Safina Surprises Henin; Kuznetsova Also Ousted

It was a day full of surprises at the Qatar Telecom German Open on Thursday, as three of the Top 8 seeds - including two of the Top 3 - were bundled out in the third round of the $1.34-million, Tier I tournament.
 
The first big shocker came in one of the first matches of the day, as top seed, world No.1 and heavy tournament favorite Justine Henin fell to No.13 seed Dinara Safina in three sets, 57 63 61. Henin was 5-0 lifetime against Safina coming in, having never dropped a set in any of those matches.
 
"It was quite a tough match, but she played better in the third set," said Henin, the only active player to win this tournament three times. "I'm playing Rome next week so I'll just have to think about that and hopefully I'll do better there."
 

Safina's victory over Henin was her second over a reigning world No.1, having beaten then-top player Maria Sharapova at Moscow in 2005.
 
"It's completely different; when I played Maria it was in Moscow, and I was at home with my entire family there and a full stadium," Safina said. "But both wins were so good. To beat a No.1 player, everything has to be working."
 
Two more upsets followed, as No.3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was ousted by No.15 seed Alona Bondarenko, 16 62 62, having also lost their only previous encounter; and No.8 seed Marion Bartoli was bounced by No.10 seed Agnes Szavay, 75 75, having led 5-2 in the first set (with a set point) and 4-2 in the second set.
 
Those who upheld their seedings were No.2 seed and defending champion Ana Ivanovic, a 75 46 64 winner over Sybille Bammer; No.4 seed Jelena Jankovic, who beat Maria Kirilenko, 62 64; No.5 seed Serena Williams, a 63 61 winner against No.11 seed Agnieszka Radwanska; and No.7 seed Elena Dementieva, who trailed 5-3 and set point in her first set with Vera Dushevina but won, 75 63.
 
"I went into this match expecting that it might be tough because of the match we played before," said Ivanovic, who fell to Bammer in the pair's only previous meeting, at Indian Wells last year. "It wasn't easy but I'm happy I managed to get through it despite the mistakes I made. Especially in the second and third sets where I was a break up, I let my intensity down and Sybille managed to come back. It's one of these matches that are good for your confidence."
 
In the only match between unseeded players, Victoria Azarenka bounced Gisela Dulko, 63 61.
 
All four quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday. Ivanovic plays Szavay, Jankovic plays Dementieva, Williams plays Safina and Bondarenko plays Azarenka.

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