Safina's slump continues with a record loss

Dinara Safina re-wrote the tennis history books today by losing to Shuai Zhang at the Beijing Open. The Chinese was given a wildcard into the Premier Mandatory event, coz with her ranking place of 226, she couldn't even get direct acceptance into the qualifications, but the 20 year old knew to make out the most of it, as she beat teh Russian 7/5 7/6(5). This marks the worst ever loss by a World No.1 in terms of ranking.


Safina, who by many has been pointed out as the worst world No.1 ever, because she didn't have a Grand Slam title under her belt, has been in a slumpfrom this summer on. She lost 4 of her last 6 matches and only one of those losses came to a player ranked inside the top 30. She went out in the 3rd round of the US Open to Petra Kvitova (WTA, 70) and in Tokyo last week to the qualifier Kai-Chen Chang (WTA, 132), but loss is a new low. The previous shameful record belonged to Ana Ivanovic, who lost to Julie Coin (WTA, 188).

Safina's playing under the pressure of being the world's best player, may end now very quickly. Should Serena Williams win her next match over Ekatarina Makarova, she will overtake the Russian in the rankings. Let's see how this unfoldsa nd if Serena was right saying everybody knew whi the real No.1 player was...

Dina refused to talk to the reporters after the match, but released an oficial statement, saying she would like to take a break as she is disappointed with herself.

Will Safina continue now her brother's pattern?

~jachal