Sun May 11 10:32:30 2008

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Safina upends Dementieva in Berlin final

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Berlin, Germany (Sports Network) - 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.

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.