Because of exhaustion Dinara Safina had almost given up her fourth-round match up with German qualifier Anna-Lena Groenefeld before it even started but her coach gave her much needed support and the Russian sixth seed advanced 7-5 6-0.
“I finished the warm-up and I just said, I cannot push myself anymore. I could not stop from crying,” said world number seven Safina, who has reached six finals in her last seven tournaments.
“(My coach) said, ‘We know that you’re not a machine. Just go on the court and do whatever you can this day. If it’s 20 percent left in your body, just give this 20 percent.
“‘Don’t use another percent just throwing the balls around and shouting. Whatever you have, just try to concentrate and put it into the game.’ So that’s what I did today.”
World number 141 Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who had defeated both 11th seed Daniela Hantuchova and 17th seed Alize Cornet at the US Open, was a tough opponent in the first set, but collapsed in the second.
