Stats Corner: Rich History Between Vera & Dinara
Published March 25, 2011 07:01
MIAMI, FL, USA - The Sony Ericsson Open has a juicy second round match-up that in previous years would have been a late round battle, with former No.2 Vera Zvonareva squaring off with former No.1 Dinara Safina.
Safina has shown signs of her previous excellence recently, including at her last event in Indian Wells where she reeled off three victories, but she will often have tough early round draws like this one until she raises her ranking more.
Making Friday's clash especially interesting is the roller-coaster history Zvonareva and Safina have against each other, with Safina up 6-5 but having lost four of the last five. Here is a rundown of their previous matches, along with how the winner ended up doing in each event.
| Event & Round | Winner | Eventual Finish |
| 2002 Sopot SF | Safina 63 62 | W |
| 2004 Rome 2R | Zvonareva: 16 64 62 | SF |
| 2006 Charleston 2R | Safina: 75 75 | QF |
| 2006 French Open 1R | Safina: 63 75 | QF |
| 2007 Charleston SF | Safina: 63 01 ret. | R-Up |
| 2007 Moscow QF | Safina: 62 36 63 | SF |
| 2008 Doha R16 | Zvonareva: 75 63 | R-Up |
| 2008 Miami QF | Zvonareva: 75 64 | SF |
| 2008 Moscow SF | Zvonareva: 62 76(5) | R-Up |
| 2009 Australian Open SF | Safina: 63 76(4) | R-Up |
| 2010 Beijing 1R | Zvonareva: 64 76(6) | R-Up |
