Dinara Safina defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Italian Open to win her first title of the year in her fourth final having also been beaten in the Australian Open and Sydney finals earlier in the year. The top seed also gained revenge for her 6-4, 6-3 defeat to Kuznetsova in the final of last week's Stuttgart Open.

"I think yesterday's match really helped me to push myself to play my best," Safina said, referencing her win over Williams. "Really, really I think I played one of my best matches yesterday. Against Kuzy, I had in my head that I had lost three finals this year. I didn't want to have a reputation that I'm losing finals."


"I couldn't find the solution today. Dinara was playing good tennis and fought her way to the final unbelievably," Kuznetsova said. "I couldn't play my game at all. I made too many unforced errors. It was a little bit like Christmas today: I was giving too many presents. I knew what I had to do but I just couldn't do it. I'm definitely very disappointed about this because I've been playing much better."


Safina had been a runner-up in her first three finals of the year, at Sydney (to Elena Dementieva), the Australian Open (to Serena Williams) and Stuttgart. This was her 10th career singles title on the Tour, following one in 2002 (Sopot), one in 2003 (Palermo), two in 2005 (Paris, Prague), one in 2007 (Gold Coast) and four last year (Berlin, Los Angeles, Montréal and Tokyo).

"When other players step on the court against me now that I am No.1, they have nothing to lose," Safina added. "It's the same thing I did last year. Like when I played Henin in Berlin last year, I didn't care. I was swinging and everything was landing in. I'm enjoying the challenge of proving I'm the best player."

Svetlana committed 30 unforced errors, almost twice as many as her opponent.

"It was a bit like Christmas today. I was giving away too many presents," said Kuznetsova who tossed her racket down in frustration at blasting a backhand into the net in the second set.

"Last week (against Safina) I was dictating the game. I was serving (well) and I was not making so many unforced errors. I was more patient than today.

"This is (the sort of) match that takes me back, not forward to maybe number one or winning more titles. If I can find the key to winning these matches it would be a very different story," added Kuznetsova.


(photo/Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Dinara Safina defeats Svetlana Kuznetsova to win Rome title