Russia's Dinara Safina came back from a set down for the third time in the tournament to win the Qatar Telecom German Open on Sunday with a 3-6 6-2 6-2 victory over compatriot Elena Dementieva.

World No.17 Safina beat three Top 10 players – No.1 Justine Henin, No.6 Serena Williams, and finally No.9 Elena Dementieva — on route to her first Tier I title, and sixth career singles title. Read more »

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. (via BBC)

Defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia finished her quarterfinal match against Hungarian Agnes Szavay with a victory and in that way reached the final four of the Qatar Telecom German Open where she'll play Elena Dementieva.

Ivanovic and Szavay started their match yesterday, but it was called off at one-set all due to bad light. Today, Ivanovic wasted little time in taking the third set and the final score was 3-6 6-4 6-3.

Seed No.2 Ivanovic and seed No.7 Demetieva will play the semifinal later today. The Russian has won all three of their previous meetings, including a defeat three months ago in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, but they have never played each other on clay. Ivanovic needs to reach the final to hold on to her number two ranking otherwise Russian former number one Maria Sharapova will overtake her.

In the other semifinal, Russian Dinara Safina, who sent home Justine Henin and Serena Williams, plays Viktoria Azarenka of Belarus. (via Reuters, photo: Getty Images)

Maria Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova have pulled out of the next week’s Qatar Telecom German Open. Sharapova’s reason for withdrawal is an unspecified injury, while Hantuchova has a stress fracture in her right foot.

Even though the two Top 10 players have pulled out, the Qatar Telecom German Open is still expected to welcome seven members of the Top 10, including No.1 Justine Henin and No.2 Ana Ivanovic. (source: On the Baseline, photo via Down the Line)

The world's top two players, Justine Henin of Belgium and Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, will play at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin in May.

Henin has won this $1.34-million claycourt tournament three times in her career, in 2002, 2003, and 2005. Ivanovic was a champion last year, beating Svetlana Kuznetsova after being a set down.

In addition to Henin and Ivanovic, several more of the world's top 10 players are expected to participate in the Tier I event.

"The 2007 tournament was one of the best events throughout the world with
eight of the ten top ten players competing" said Sheikh Mohamed Bin Faleh Al Thani, President of the Qatar Tennis Federation on Wednesday. "I assume that such strong entries will again take part at the 2008 Qatar Telecom German Open."

The tournament runs from May 5-11. (via On the Baseline, photos Getty Images)