Oct 31, 2009

No. 1 Ranked Safina Done For Rest Of Wta Season

Safina Withdraws From Qatar Due To Back injury

The WTA's No. 1 women's ranked player, Dinara Safina, withdrew from the Sony Ericsson Championships after playing just two games due to a serious back injury that she could not contend with any longer. Safina has had a disc in her back starting to fracture and the injury has been bothering her for the last three months. She also said that she had been taking cortisone injections in order to help with the problem so that she may be able to defend her No. 1 ranking in Doha. Unfortunately the pain became just too much for her to handle after just two games of action on Wednesday rendering her unable to continue. Doctors have informed her that she will be sidelined for at least the next six weeks.

The injury comes as a huge disappointment to the Russian as the season ending injury will undoubtedly result in her handing over her No.1 ranking to Serena Williams. Safina had been ranked No 1 most of the time since April but her margin over Williams coming into this week's tournament was so slim that the player who performed better would be guaranteed the No. 1 ranking for the remainder of the year. With Safina now absent from the tournament, the sportsbooks' betting odds of Williams getting knocked out in the early stages of the tournament are virtually zero. As a result, Williams will regain the top spot and finish as the No 1 ranked women's player in the world for the 2009 WTA season.

By Bryan Jackson
Staff Writer
Betsportsweb.com
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