Seventh seed Elena Dementieva defeated defending champion Ana Ivanovic 6-2 7-5 at the Qatar Telecom German Open to set up an all-Russian final against Dinara Safina.
Ana Ivanovic is yet to beat Elena Dementieva, as she now trails the Russian 4-0 in head-to-head terms. In today’s semifinal, Ivanovic made too many unforced errors. She had a set point in the second set, but an all too familiar unforced error saw her chance disappear. Because the Serb didn’t manage to reach the final in Berlin, she’ll drop to No.3 in the rankings and Maria Sharapova will rise to No.3.
In-form Dinara Safina, who beat Justine Henin in the third round before ending Serena Williams’s 17-match winning streak, advanced to the Qatar Total Open final with a 6-4 6-1 victory over Victoria Azarenka. Safina, seeded 13th, had to twice battle back from a break down in the first set against 18-year-old Azarenka. But in the second set, Azarenka seemed to be struggling with a knee injury, and Safina cruised to victory in just under one-and-a-half hours. Anyway, Belorussia’s Azarenka is projected to crack the Top 20 for the first time on the new rankings — she will rise from No.26 to No.19.
