It was touted to be the match of the tournament so far. And the battle between the Russian glam dolls turned out to be just that. Halfway through the match though, there were a few spectators who walked out of the stadium thinking it was a matter of minutes. Little did they realise how wrong they were. There was still an hour to go to the end. Not the one they expected anyways.

Trailing a set and 2-5 down in the second, the few spectators who left the stadium had probably not expected a turn around. It was at that stage that Dinara Safina, who had spent most of her tennis years in teh shadow of big brother Marat Safin, showed that she too could up her game as mercurially as her famed brother. She managed to etch out a 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 victory over her compatriot and world number one Maria Sharapova.

Coming into the tournament on the back of a shock retirement by Justien Henin, Sharapova was considered one of the favorites to win the French Open 2008 and in the bargain complete a career slam. She would have been one of the few tennis players to have done so having won the other three slams earlier. She was also a favorite for the Olympics later in Beijing.

Dinara Safina is today considered a much better player after overcoming a lot of injury niggles and seeing her ranking rise up owing to some good results in the 2008 season.

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