Dinara Safina rallied to defeat Elena Dementieva in an all-Russian final at the $1.34 million German Open, a clay- court French Open tuneup.
The 13th-seeded Safina, who ousted world No. 1 Justine Henin and American star Serena Williams earlier in the tourney, dropped the first set to the two- time Grand Slam runner-up Dementieva but dominated the final two frames to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in just over two hours.
With the win, the 22-year-old Safina took home her sixth career WTA title, and her first since winning at Gold Coast in 2007. She also earned $196,900.
"I hope I won't wake up tomorrow and realize that this was just a dream," Safina said. "Obviously, this has been the biggest success in my career and I still can't believe I actually won Berlin and beat three Top 10 players in one week."
The seventh-seeded Dementieva, who upset world No. 2 Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals, was in search of her 10th WTA title and second of the year, but came up short and fell to 2-3 against Safina in her career.
"I played well in the first set but then Dinara started to move much better and also got more first serves in," Dementieva said. "I had problems returning and just wasn't as consistent as I needed to be to win today. I could see over the entire week that Dinara is playing well and her success today pays off all the hard work and discipline she put in over the years."
