Brave Safina stuns Sharapova

RUSSIA’S Dinara Safina mounted an astonishing comeback from a set and 2-5 down to send top seed Maria Sharapova crashing out of the French Open in an epic fourth round battle yesterday.

Safina, the 13th seed, triumphed 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, saving a match point along the way, in a tie which lasted almost three hours. She will now meet fellow Russian Elena Dementieva for a place in the semi-finals.

The victory echoed Safina’s three-set win over Sharapova at the same stage in 2006 when she recovered from 1-5 down in the final set and it came in the most dramatic of circumstances.