Safina upsets Sharapova at French Open

PARIS—With a stunning comeback against Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina made her big brother proud. The sister of two-time Grand Slam winner Marat Safin, Safina erased a 5-1 deficit in the final set, won 18 of the last 21 points and beat Sharapova 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 on Sunday at the French Open.
The 20-year-old Safina, seeded 14th, received a congratulatory message from her brother after earning her first berth in a Grand Slam quarterfinal. “He said, ‘Great fight, good comeback,’” she said. “It’s nice.” Sharapova, seeded fourth, failed to convert two set points in the opening set, then rallied but couldn’t close out the victory. She was twice broken serving for the match, hitting errant forehands on three consecutive points to lose serve for 5-all.
“At that point you’re thinking left and right, and you don’t know what you’re doing,” Sharapova said. “You go into a different world, and you make dumb decisions.” The 5-foot-11 1/2 Safina controlled the rallies in the final two games, keeping her Russian compatriot on the move and on her heels. “I took everything in my hands,” Safina said. “Before, she was dictating and I had always to run from corner to corner. I said, ‘OK, now I’ll try to make her run.’ I started to be more aggressive.”
When Safina sealed the upset with a backhand crosscourt winner, she threw her arms aloft, then swung her racket one last time with glee. The tournament was the first since April 1 for Sharapova, who withdrew from two events leading up to Roland Garros because of a right ankle injury. She sought to shrug off the clay-court collapse. “I haven’t played a lot of matches in the past weeks and don’t feel like I’m match-tough enough,” she said. “Of course I’m disappointed, but I didn’t think I would be playing my best tennis here.”
Safina will next play another Russian, former U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. The No. 8-seeded Kuznetsova lost her serve seven times but rallied past No. 9 Francesca Schiavone 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. In men’s third-round play, No. 4 Ivan Ljubicic needed only two games to close out a victory over Juan Monaco, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The match was suspended because of darkness Saturday with Ljubicic leading 4-2 in the final set. The Croatian overcame a two-set deficit for the third time in his career and improved to 6-12 in five-set matches.
Another Croatia, No. 12 Mario Ancic, reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals for the first time, beating No. 7 Tommy Robredo 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. A weary Ancic hobbled behind the baseline and required treatment from a trainer during the 10th game of the final set before earning the victory. Sharapova’s troubles started in the first set. Safina erased a set point serving at 3-5 and another in the next game when Sharapova shanked a forehand. Safina took the set by breaking serve at love. Sharapova rebounded, taking leads of 3-0 in the second set and 4-0 in the third.
“I just didn’t want to leave the court,” Safina said. “I was enjoying it. It was nice to play. I wanted to stay more.” Sharapova was two points from victory serving at 5-2 but won only three more points, one on a double fault.—Agencies