Dinara Safina (Russian: Дина́ра Муби́новна (Миха́йловна) Са́фина), born April 27, 1986, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar origins. She was born in Moscow, USSR (now Russia), where she currently lives. She is the younger sister of tennis player, former world number one Marat Safin. She is coached by Glen Schaap, former trainer of Nadia Petrova. Her mother, Rauza Islanova used to be her trainer when she was younger but still gives advice to Dinara. Dinara Safina's father is director of the Spartak tennis club in Moscow. She has won one Grand Slam title, the women's double title at the 2007 U.S. Open with her partner Nathalie Dechy.

On July 29, 2002, she entered into the top 100. She also won her first WTA title in Sopot, beating Nagyova in the final. In doing so she became the youngest Tour champion in four years and the first qualifier to win a title in three years. In the same year, she defeated a top 20 player (Silvia Farina Elia) who was seeded 14, for the first time in Moscow, at the age of 16.

On July 14, 2003, she broke into the top 50. She won her second WTA title over Katarina Srebotnik in Palermo. In that season as well, she reached fourth round at the 2003 US Open and also reached the quarterfinals at Doha, Sopot and Shanghai. She beat defending champion Magdalena Maleeva, in Moscow.

At the 2004 Australian Open, Safina upset Amanda Coetzer of South Africa before losing to Kim Clijsters of Belgium. For the first time, Dinara finished the year in the Top 50, and reached third career final at Luxembourg where she lost against Alicia Molik.

Dinara Safina won her biggest career singles title at Paris [Indoors],beating Amelie Mauresmo. Partnering Elena Dementieva, she won the decisive doubles rubber in the Fed cup final in 2005. She stunned World No. 1 Maria Sharapova in the QF of the 2005 Kremlin Cup, winning 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.

In 2006, Safina reached the tier I Rome final by defeating top 10 players Kim Clijsters, Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova, beaten only by resurgent Martina Hingis 6-2, 7-5.

At the 2006 French Open, Safina made the quarterfinals for the first time in her career. In the fourth round, she beat number four seed Maria Sharapova 7-5, 2-6, 7-5. In the third set, she trailed 1-5 but managed to pull the upset after almost 2^1/2 hours of play.

To kick off the grass season, following her strong performance on clay, she reached her first grass court final at the Ordina Open, losing to Michaella Krajicek 6-3, 6-4.

During the 2006 US Open, she again reached a grand slam quarterfinal, this time losing soundly to Amelie Mauresmo. She met larger success in doubles, where she reached the final with partner Katarina Srebotnik.

Safina reached two finals, two semifinals, and nine quarterfinals in 2006.

Safina won her debut tournament in 2007, in Gold Coast, Australia, defeating Shahar Peer 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-1 in the semifinal and Martina Hingis 6-3 3-6 7-5 in the final. Following the 5-0 start to the year, she lost her sixth match of the year to Nicole Pratt 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the Sydney tournament. Safina would then finish her Australian season at the third round of the Australian Open, losing to Li Na 6-2 6-2.

Safina reached the quarterfinals at her next two tournaments in Paris and Antwerp, losing to the eventual champions at both—Nadia Petrova in Paris and Amélie Mauresmo in Antwerp.

Safina lost in the third round of her first Tier I event of the year in Indian Wells to Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-3, and lost in the fourth round at the next Tier I event in Miami to Petrova again 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Safina reached her fourth quarterfinal of the year at her first clay event in Amelia Island, Florida, losing to Petrova for the third time in 2007. And at her third Tier I event in Charleston, South Carolina, she would reach her second final of the year, with retirements by Tatiana Golovin and Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinal and semifinal, losing to Jelena Janković 6-2, 6-2. Safina's consistent results on clay continued in Berlin and Rome, reaching the quarterfinals at both events. At the French Open, she lost to Serena Williams 6-2, 6-3 in the fourth round.

Safina lost a three-set thriller to Janković in the semifinal of the Ordina Open in s-'Hertogenbosch 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6), having had a match point in the tiebreaker. Following that loss, she was upset by Akiko Morigami in the second round of Wimbledon and lost in the second round of both the Acura Classic and East West Bank Classic, to Sania Mirza and Kateryna Bondarenko respectively.

Safina won the women's double title at the 2007 U.S. Open with her partner Nathalie Dechy 6-4, 6-2. Dechy was the defending champion who had beat Safina in the previous final to win the 2006 title.

A = did not participate in the tournament

*Official site * *dinarasafina1.skyblog.com: a fansite