MIAMI // Dinara Safina will replace Serena Williams as world No 1 in the WTA's next official rankings. Safina, who has yet to win a grand slam event, has risen up the rankings thanks to four WTA singles titles in the past year - in Montreal, Los Angeles, Berlin and Tokyo. The full rankings will be officially released on April 20. The Russian, whose brother Marat was a men's No 1, was also runner-up in five competitions including the 2009 Australian Open, where she was beaten by Williams, and the 2008 French Open. "It's a great honour to reach the No 1 ranking and it is a dream every girl who has ever wanted to play professional tennis shares," said Safina.
The rankings system was questioned last week by Williams, who, in the past 12 months, has won the Australian and US Opens and was beaten finalist at Wimbledon. "There's no question that while I am very proud of my results over the past year, I would have liked to reach this achievement in a different manner," said Safina. "I hope to prove over the coming months that I merit the honour." An injury-hampered Williams suffered a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 loss to Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic in the first round of the Andalucia Championships on Wednesday. She is struggling due to a thigh injury that affected her performance in the Sony Ericsson Open final defeat on Saturday when she lost to Victoria Azarenka.
* Reuters
