Things happen quickly for Dinara Safina. She ended a three-year coaching relationship with Zeljko Krajan last season and promptly replaced him with Gaston Etlis...and by January sacked him in favor of Davide Sanguinetti. She somehow nosedived from No. 1 in the WTA to No. 113 in under two years, during which her once imposing game imploded. At the Australian Open, she was brushed aside in the opening round by Kim Clijsters—6-0, 6-0—in a if-you-hit-snooze-you-missed-it time of 44 minutes.
Another quick occurrence involving Safina took place today, but for the first time in a while, it was a positive. Like all of the events I've mentioned, you couldn't have seen it coming. Safina was broken in each of her first two service games, and then again in her fourth. The culprit, of course, was her serve, particularly her second offering. It found the net, the area between the service line and baseline, or went wide—anywhere but its intended target. Safina has dramatically altered her service motion; she lifts the racquet before the ball is tossed, not allowing the hitting hand to drop. It was the first time I saw her revised swing, and the initial results were catastrophic.
Amazingly, Safina remained in the first set by the 10th game. Her opponent, Daniela Hantuchova, served just as poorly and was also broken three times in her first four service games. But she still nearly got away with it. At 5-all, Safina's serving struggles continued, and she found herself down double set point, having not won a single point on her second serve (0 for 11). Naturally, she saved both on second serves, and wiped away another set point with a textbook ace up the T. She would eventually hold.
The gutsy effort seemed to do something between the ears for the hard-luck Russian, who suddenly began to serve well—she wasn't broken again the rest of the match—and rallied with more authority. Moon balls gave way to nice cross-court backhands, and we saw glimpses of a forehand that, when hit with pace, can be one of the more powerful in all of women's tennis. With newfound confidence—the only way I can explain this switcheroo—Safina took the first-set tiebreaker 7-2 and the second set 6-4, breaking Hantuchova in the eighth game and then calmly serving it out. A well-deserved celebration ensued, as Safina savored her first two-match winning streak of the season. For her sake, I'm glad that wasn't quick.
—Ed McGrogan