Dinara Safina News

Ana Ivanovic's once-dominant serve quickly deteriorated this season. Ana Ivanovic is on vacation in an undisclosed sunny locale, which is what she's been saying she needs for a while now, and exactly where her fans should want her to be.

Golf: Anthony Kim advanced to the semi-finals of the World Match Play Championship against Robert Allenby, despite losing to Scott Strange by three holes yesterday.

Serena Williams of the U.S. reacts to her win over her sister Venus Williams during their WTA Championships final tennis match in Doha November 1, 2009.

Serena Williams opened her campaign to regain the world number one ranking on a positive note with a hard-fought 7-6 7-5 victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova .

Where does Safina go from here? For those still interested in who would finish the year as women's No.

Russia's Dinara Safina reacts after she retired midway through her Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships against Serbia's Jelena Jankovic in Doha yesterday.

Dinara Safina pulled out of the Sony Ericsson Championships at Doha, Qatar after just two games with a serious back injury yesterday, handing the year-end No.

Dinara Safina finished the best year of her career with tears in her eyes on Wednesday in Doha, Qatar, as a serious back injury ended her season and her hold on the No.

DOHA: An exciting opening day of the Sony Ericsson Championships saw 6 of the 8 women in action, and as you would expect with the best of the best the matches were tight and intense.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, Serena Williams topped the women's rankings.

The equation could not be simpler -- whoever performs best out of Russian Dinara Safina and American Serena Williams at next week's WTA Championships in Doha will end the year as world number one.

With the season-ending championships coming up, let's look at what the stakes are for each of the eight qualifiers who have convened in Doha, Qatar, to hold a tug-of-war for the WTA Sony Ericsson Championships title -- theoretically, the most important title after the four majors.

Hard to believe, but Serena Williams has finished the year ranked No. 1 only once.

Russia's Dinara Safina comes out of the Doha International Airport on Sunday night.

Defending champion Jelena Jankovic advanced to the second round of the Kremlin Cup on Tuesday by defeating Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4, 5-7, 6-1. Wayne Odesnik of the United States rallied to upset second-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania 5-7, 7-5, 6-4. Jankovic won the first set after Shvedova hit into the net twice to give her the 10th game.

SYDNEY International organisers have gambled by making Serena Williams the centrepiece of their advertising campaign for January's event, despite the fact she might not be allowed to play.

A few thoughts as the season winds to an end ... 1. Get me rewrite! For months now, the WTA has been less stable than AIG's stock price.

Second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska advanced to the Generali Ladies quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-5 win Thursday over Alize Cornet of France.

Doha: Current World No. 6 Venus Williams and World No. 7 Victoria Azarenka are the latest players to qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships - " Doha 2009, in the singles competition.

The inevitable did happen. Serena Williams got her ranking, and Dinara Safina lost hers.A It is a fair result, and would eventually bring the Russian more joy than disappointments in the long term.