In the quarterfinal of the Andalucia Tennis Championships against top seed Victoria Azarenka, Dinara Safina retired while trailing 5-1 because she felt the back pain similar to the reappearing one that has been disrupting her participation in tennis tournaments for a couple of years now. The lower back issues seemed to have been overcome, but with the familiar pain reoccurring, Safina didn’t want to take any risks and withdrew from the tournament:

It was a sad end to the week. I was playing well. I had another problem with my back. I started to feel a pain similar to the one I used to have. I was very afraid, so I am going to have an MRI and see what that shows. I hope it's nothing serious and that it's just my fear, but I want to double check. It's not as strong a pain as before, but I have a similar sensation.

Azarenka’s semifinal opponent in Marbella will be Sara Errani, the eighth seed who beat fourth seed Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 6-2 6-2. The other semifinal features second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated Lara Arruabarrena Vecino in the quarterfinals, and Romanian qualifier Irina Begu, who advanced with a win over sixth seed Klara Zakopalova. (via the WTA Tour, photo by our reader Tony)

In the most attractive Wednesday's match at the Sony Ericssion Open, former world No.1 Dinara Safina broke former world No.4 Jelena Dokic's serve at 4-all in both sets on her way to a 6-4 6-4 first-round victory.

"I was really pleased with my serve and showed I can serve not only double faults but also some aces," said Safina, who ended each set off with an ace.

Both Safina, a wildcard at the event this year, and Dokic, this time a qualifier, have quarterfinal Miami appearances as their best results at the tournament. Safina, currently ranked 91st, reached the last 8 in 2008, when she lost to fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva, who will actually be her opponent in the awaiting round this year. The world No.64 Dokic played Miami quarterfinals in 2001 and 2003.

Prior to the Sony Ericsson Open, at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Safina won three matches in a row, her best performance in more than a year. (source: WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Dinara Safina's joy was short-lived, as her inspiring win over Samantha Stosur was followed by a 6-2 6-0 blowout by Maria Sharapova in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open. In the Russian battle of former No.1s, Sharapova gave no chances to Safina with her precise, powerful and aggressive display. Fellow blogger Forty Deuce, who is at the tournament, says that Safina was often left frozen on the court and that everything besides Sharapova's serve was reminiscent of the Australian Open 2008 Sharapova. Next for Masha will be Peng Shuai.

Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki was made to work against Alisa Kleybanova in the fourth round, before prevailing 2-6 6-3 6-1 in one hour and 55 minutes. Wozniacki's quarterfinal opponent will be good friend Victoria Azarenka, seeded 8th. Azarenka saved four match points to battle past Agnieszka Radwanska 4-6 6-3 7-6(3) after three hours and four minutes. (photo: Tidalist)

World No.108 Dinara Safina hadn't been able to win three matches in a row in more than a year (she rarely even won two) and now she scored her first Top 4 victory since 2008 by upsetting fourth seed Samantha Stosur in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Despite 16 double faults, Safina's performance was strong, with powerful groundstrokes, successful aggressiveness and big returns. The Russian swept through the first set tiebreaker 7-2 and resisted a late Stosur's fightback in the second set to win 7-6(2) 6-4.

Safina's fourth round opponent will be No.18 seed Maria Sharapova, who is also coming back from injury. Sharapova had survived a marathon opener against Anabel Medina Garrigues, but cruised past seed No.20 Aravane Rezai 6-2 6-2 in the third round.

The Safina vs. Sharapova match will not be the only fourth round meeting between compatriots and former world No.1s. Serbs Jelena Jankovic, who is defending her title at Indian Wells, and Ana Ivanovic will also face each other. (photo: Forty Deuce)

Former world No.1 Dinara Safina, who is not even in the Top 100 anymore, is yet to win two matches in a row this season, even though it’s already March. Actually, Safina hasn't won back-to-back matches since September 2010 and Seoul.

At this week’s Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, Safina managed to win her first match of year 2011 by defeating 125th-ranked Han Xinyun of China, but the Russian failed to go one step further and lost to Lucie Safarova in the second round. Safina fought back from a set down, but didn’t keep the momentum and the world No.35 Safarova won 6-3 4-6 6-3.

The $220,000 Malaysian Open is Safina’s fourth tournament of the year. In Auckland she lost to Yanina Wickmayer, in Hobart to Marion Bartoli, and in Melbourne she was double bageled by eventual champion Kim Clijsters.

Safina is still alive in Kuala Lumpur doubles though, and will play the semifinals against Shuko Aoyama and Chan Chin-Wei partnered with Galina Voskoboeva. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

It's not that there are no other things happening in the tennis world, a match won by Dinara Safina really is big news – unfortunately, the Russian hadn't done so in months, since September 2010.

Today at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, the former number one Safina even posted a bagel, against a 125th ranked player that is, but considering that Safina is world number 113 right now, it's not a small deal. With a 6-2 6-0 victory over 20-year-old Han Xinyun, Safina advanced to the second round of the $220,000 International-level event and put an end to a six-match losing streak.

Safina's next opponent will be fifth seed Lucie Safarova.

Three seeds advanced to the second round on Tuesday: No.2 Marion Bartoli beat Maria Elena Camerin 6-0 6-1, No.3 and defending champion Alisa Kleybanova defeated Lu Jing-Jing 6-1 6-1, and No.8 Bojana Jovanovski took out Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-0 6-1. Seventh seed Kimiko Date Krumm fell to Anne Kremer 4-6 6-2 7-6(5). (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

As our reader Brenda from Argentina asked for my overview of the 2011 Australian Open tennis fashion, here it is – a little bit of every brand, a little bit of good and bad.

Let's not save the best for the last. Let's start with by far the biggest fashion attention-grabber of the tournament – Venus Williams. The American played three matches (actually two, but she started her third one) and showcased the same number of outfits. The following one is the unofficial ugliest tennis outfit of the decade.

Venus, a graduate in fashion design and the person behind clothing line EleVen, made the outfits herself.

Believe it or not, Venus' dresses, or whatever they can be called, have gained a fan base. Whoever likes Venus' latest EleVen dresses, please leave a comment! I'm sure the world would love to hear your reasoning.

I'd like to continue with Nadia Petrova, the representative of Ellesse. Petrova has also had some colorful and imaginative styles (remember her US Open 2010 outfit that had stripes of all the possible colors?). There might be sound logic behind Petrova's support of EleVen.

Another fashion favorite is always Aravane Rezai. Even though this time her family drama attracted more attention than her dress, the Frenchwoman stayed faithful to the touch of crazy uniqueness. Although, she definitely can do better!

Let's move on to adidas – plenty of it. Read more »

Dinara Safina used to be a recognizable face of adidas, but it seems that the top brand decided to let her go, probably because they gave up on expecting much exposure for their clothes from the former world No.1.

Adidas' prediction for the new season turned out to be correct, as in three tournaments this year Safina hasn't won a single match, including the most recent Australian Open devastation by Kim Clijsters.

The world No.75 Safina opened 2011 without a clothing sponsor, as you can see in the first photo, from the ASB Classic.

For the Grand Slam Safina secured the clothes of Italian brand, Sergio Tacchini.

However, Safina is still featured on adidas' website, as one of their players. (via DeShawn Besabella)

The 2009 Australian Open finalist, Dinara Safina, was eliminated from the Australian Open big time – in the first round, after just 44 minutes, without winning a single game and without earning a single break point. The conqueror on the other side of the net was another former world No.1 and third seed at the 2011 Australian Open, Kim Clijsters. It must be devastating for Safina, especially because this year she lost in the first round of all the three tournaments she played.

Safina, whose 2010 was one of the worst of her career, will have some thinking to do:

To lose two tournaments in a row 6-0 6-1 and 6-0 6-0 — it's really to scratch the head and to think what the hell am I doing. I want to come back and I want to play better, but now to find answers how I can come back.

All the other seeds in action on Day 2 advanced, except for seed No.27 Alexandra Dulgheru and No.19 Ana Ivanovic who fought hard, saved five match points, but lost to Ekaterina Makarova 3-6 6-4 10-8. The world No.49 Makarova won her first WTA title last year in Eastbourne, as a qualifier and without dropping a set.

Serbia may have lost one of their big names in the women's draw, but their new hope advanced to the second round — 58th-ranked Bojana Jovanovski beat Kai-Chen Chang 7-5 6-1 and will next play second seed Vera Zvonareva.

Besides a thrilling match, the encounter of Agnieszka Radwanska and the oldest player in the draw, Kimiko Date Krumm, featured this funny racquet breaking incident. The 12th-seeded Radwanska won the match 6-4 4-6 7-5 after receiving treatment for a back problem. Thanks DeShawn Besabella for sharing the video! (photo Patrik Nemes)

The 2011 season has just started and we're already thinking about the year-end rankings. Our friend John Bolan used a number of indicators to calculate how the Top 10 will look at the end of 2011. Isn't this a perfect time to get playful and test our projection abilities?

My friends and I play a game each year before the new tennis season begins: "Name the Top 10 players in order at the end of the year". We all have favorites, but I try to use a little logic in the picks.

First, see where the players finished this year. Then think about which good players have been injured for long periods during 2010. Finally, consider how many points players have to lose. Players with many points now must play better than players with fewer points to retain their ranking. Of course we all have personal favorites and think that different players will either rise or sink in the rankings.

My pick for number 1, Victoria Azarenka, has a combination of all the above factors – she has been injured, has fewer points to lose than anyone else in the Top 10, and is definitely a rising young star. Number 2, Justine Henin, and number 3, Maria Sharapova, also fit in the same mold.

One can’t forget to rank the Top 3 players from 2010. Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva are my next 3 picks. Although they have many points to subtract, they are the best 3 players in 2010.

Number 7 is Yanina Wickmayer. She is young and very strong. 2011 will be her breakout year.

Dinara Safina has very few points to lose, has been injured all 2010 and has more to prove than any other player. She will be back in the Top 10. Dinara is also my pick for a comeback player of the year 2011.

Ana Ivanovic is determined. She is working very hard.

In the last spot is Jelena Jankovic who will be steadier in 2011 and hold onto her Top 10 ranking.

There is no expectation on my part that any of you will agree with me on these picks! That is why we play the game! So use the comments and make your picks!

It will be interesting to get back to these projections when the 2011 season finishes. The time will come before we know it! (photos: Karla St John, John Bolan)