World number one Dinara Safina hoped her thrilling comeback win over Venus Williams at the Italian Open would help her to break her grand slam duck.
The 23-year-old Russian, who overtook Venus’s sister Serena to top the rankings for the first time last month, rallied to beat the seven-times grand slam champion 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals.
With Serena, the winner of 10 grand slam singles titles, proclaiming this week that she considered herself as the best player in the world despite what the rankings said, Safina felt Friday’s win would help her to silence her critics.
Despite falling in the semis, Venus was delighted her run had helped her to climb to number three in the world for the first time since 2003.
