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)