Safina knocks Williams off top spot
Published: 20 April, 2009, 11:37
Dinara Safina (AFP Photo / Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)
Dinara Safina is finally the queen of tennis by officially replacing Serena Williams as the world number one.
Safina, who has yet to win a Grand Slam event, has risen up the rankings thanks to four WTA singles titles in the past year at Montreal, Los Angeles, Berlin and Tokyo.
Russia's Fed Cup captain Sharmil Tarpischev believes she'll go on to greater things.
“Dinara now needs to win a couple of serious tournaments to become more self-assured, and I believe she’ll do so,” says Tarpischev.
Meanwhile, in the men’s ranking, Rafael Nadal is still on top and winning his fifth straight title at the Monte Carlo Masters, beating Novak Djokovic in the final. Nadal has reasserted his position as the undisputed King of Clay, but not before he'd been given a thorough workout by Djokovic.
A close first set went the way of the Spaniard as he played some stand and deliver tennis from the baseline, taking the opening set 6-3.
Unfazed, Djokovic continued to go on the offensive and continued to attack the net, and his efforts paid-off as he sailed through the next set by six games to two.
However, the third set allowed the world number one to prove why he is still the man to beat, destroying Djokovic 6-1. The Masters win subsequently ties Nadal with Roger Federer on 14 Masters titles overall.
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