Thai qualifier Tamarine Tanasugarn beat Roland Garros runner-up Dinara Safina of Russia 7-5 6-3 to take the Ordina Open trophy.

It is Tanasugarn’s second WTA title, the first one since winning Hyderabad in 2003. In today's Ordina Open final the world No.85 survived a break in the opening set, and won a difficult second set in which she saved eight break points.

"One day you play really good, the next day — I just was not myself on the court," said Safina, ranked 9th in the world.

"(Tanasugarn) plays very different, she has some unbelievable angles and just made me go crazy in the mind." (source: Reuters, photo via Yahoo)

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Defending champion Jelena Jankovic, last year's finalist Maria Sharapova, and the 2008 French Open finalist Dinara Safina have all decided to skip the DFS Classic in Birmingham, a Wimbledon warmup event which starts June 9.

World No.3 Jankovic withdrew from the grass-court tournament with the same arm injury that caused her to fly home to Belgrade after losing to Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals of the French Open.

Sharapova, who has won the DFS Classic twice, will skip the event after five consecutive years in the draw in order to be able to focus on Wimbledon better. The Russian world No.1 has also withdrawn from Eastbourne which means she will play no competitive grass-court tennis before Wimbledon.

Safina, ranked 14th in the world, pulled out of Birmingham with a bad back. (sources: ESPN, Reuters; photos: Tennis Channel, Getty Images)

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Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic defeated Dinara Safina of Russia 6-4 6-3 in Saturday’s final at the 2008 French Open to claim her first Grand Slam title.

The world No.2 Ivanovic was successful at her third attempt in a Grand Slam final. Last year at the French Open nerves got the best of her and she was demolished by clay-court specialist Justine Henin. Ivanovic also played the 2008 Australian Open final, but Maria Sharapova was too good for her then. Today, however, everything was just right for Ivanovic as her nerves, her game and her bullet-like forehand worked well. Comeback artist Dinara Safina, ranked 14th in the world, wasn't able to fight back this time.

Second seed Ivanovic broke Safina in the first game of the match, and then again in the fifth, without losing a single point. Read more »

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Seed No.13 Dinara Safina continued her impressive run at the 2008 Roland Garros defeating compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-2 and moving into her first ever Grand Slam final. Safina was a point from defeat in her previous two matches but she needed no miraculous recovery against Kuznetsova.

World No.14 Safina, who debuted in a Grand Slam semifinal, dominated over four-time Grand Slam semifinalist Kuznetsova and became the first woman to take a set from Kuznetsova at the 2008 French Open.

Safina established a 4-1 lead by breaking Kuznetsova twice in the first five games. Despite working her way back to 4-3, Kuznetsova was broken again and Safina served out the set. The second set started with an exchange of breaks, but then Safina broke again at 2-2, and again to take a 5-2 lead which signified the end of Kuznetsova.

On route to the final Safina defeated Kateryna Bondarenko, Magdalena Rybarikova, Jie Zheng, top seed Maria Sharapova, seventh seed Elena Dementieva, and finally fourth Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In the 2008 French Open final, Safina will play second seed Ana Ivanovic who has just won a difficult semifinal encounter against fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic. (photo: Getty Images)

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This year at Roland Garros we will have an all-Serbian and an all-Russian semifinal. In the Russian semifinal Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova will meet each other.

World No.14 Safina moved into the final four with another remarkable comeback victory. The No.13 seed defeated countrywoman Elena Dementieva. Seventh-seeded Dementieva led 5-2 in the second set and looked set for victory when she reached match point at 5-4. But Safina fought back to triumph 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-0. This victory came just two days after she beat world number one Maria Sharapova in the fourth round in almost identical fashion.

Safina is turning out to be one of the greatest comeback artists on the Grand Slam stage. With the victory over Dementieva she has become the first woman since tennis turned professional in 1968 to have come from match point down in successive grand slam matches — winning both.

Fourth-seeded Kuznetsova struggled in the first set, trailing Estonian world No.49 Kaia Kanepi 4-2 and 40-0 in the next game, but eventually stepped up a gear and claimed a convincing 7-5 6-2 win.

World No.3 Kuznetsova has a 4-3 head-to-head record against Safina, while on clay that record is 3-2. Moreover, Kuznetsova won their last match, which was also on clay in Rome last year. (sources: BBC, Reuters; photos: Getty Images)

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