Safina forced to endure more questions about ranking

Dinara Safina was forced to once again defend her number one ranking after squeezing by unheralded Kristina Barrois at the U.S. Open on Thursday, her second successive struggle against an unseeded opponent.

"Nobody will take it away from me," the explosive 23-year-old Russian, who has yet to win a grand slam, told reporters about her lofty ranking.

Safina had 15 double faults and 38 unforced errors during a two-hour, 13-minute affair against Barrois. But she played the big points well, at least well enough, and walked away with a 6-7 6-2 6-3 victory.

"There are so many players who won a grand slam and where they are now?," asked Safina. "Nowhere. Some of the players you don't even know that they won a grand slam. You look and say like, 'Oh, my gosh, she won?'

"But number one will always stay there. The people will remember you by number one, not by winning a grand slam."

Safina would dearly love to silence her critics by winning the Open. But until she does, the questions about her worthiness as the world's best player will linger.

Against Barrois, Safina yelled at herself, whacked her racket against the court, and displayed general disgust with her play.

But, despite being down a break in the final set, she managed to win. That, at least to Barrois, means Safina has the grittiness to be the world's top-ranked player.

"At the end, she had a lot of pressure and was serving good," said the 67th-ranked German. "She had two or three aces in one game. That's how a number one should play.

"It's not easy for her because everyone is asking when is she going to win a grand slam. Perhaps she will do it here."

Safina, who needed three sets to defeat Australian wildcard Olivia Rogowska in the opening round, volunteered a mild thanks to the crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium for offering their encouragement.

She gave a slight wave to the adoring legion but offered no hint of a smile. Perhaps she was already thinking of her third-round opponent, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.

At the beginning of her post-match news conference, Safina looked at reporters and sighed.

"Another tough day in the office," she said.