Second seed Dinara Safina was upset by Virginie Razzano 6-4 6-2 in the second round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, while all the other seeded players progressed on Tuesday.
The Australian Open finalist Safina was erratic, inconsistent and hit 12 double faults.
“She played I think one of her best matches and I was not there,” said the Russian world No.2. “I didn’t give myself the chance to play. It was one of those days today and I’ll just have to forget it and get ready for Indian Wells.”
All the other seeds were victorious today, including top seed Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva, Venus Williams, Alize Cornet, Marion Bartoli, Dominika Cibulkova, Zheng Jie, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Kaia Kanepi. All their victories came in straight sets, except Serena Williams’ over Sara Errani (4-6 6-2 6-0), Marion Bartoli’s over Francesca Schiavone (7-6 3-6 6-3) and Zheng Jie’s over Samantha Stosur (3-6 7-5 7-5).
I am absolutely appalled at her performance, the fact that this is this is only the second round of a tourney is irregardless. Basically, this match was a summary of her vulnerability and weaknesses which will be detrimental to her future stability and statement as a potential Wo. 1- yes, she will plunge in the rankings and distance herself further rom the potential Wo. 1, had she have won Dubai. At one point in the first set, her first serve percentage was withering at a fragile 22% and her points won on second service had faltered to a shocking 18%, her return on first serve not scintillating either at just 28%. Should we mention the 12 double faults? This progressively improved throughout the match, though I disagree with Dina in why she would have to ‘forget about it’ because that match was a seriously embarassing display of what will dent her future career, after what has and should have been nearly two and a half weeks of restoring and enhancing that ‘Shocking Safina Serve’ in Croatia.
She has lost confidence,Serena totally demoralized her.I hope she finds her game soon because she is one of the few likeable russians
Safina has very high ups and very low downs. I hope she’ll learn to be consistent.