Safina Follows Dementieva to Ozeki; Serena One Win Away from Dai-Yokozuna Status

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Something rather unusual happened in the ladies' game: two promtions to Ozeki (=Champion) in one tournament. Elena Dementieva secured her Ozeki re-promotion by entering the third consecutive GS semifinal, even though she lost the semi to Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) Serena Williams, who saved her best tennis for this match (Dementieva had already been an Ozeki in 2004/05).

Now Dinara Safina has made the same step, overcoming her compatriot Vera Zvonareva in the semifinals. This plus Safinas semifinal participation at the US Open fulfills the promotion requirements to Ozeki. Safina has therefore reached the same career-high rank as her charismatic elder brother, two-time grand slam winner Marat Safin.

Ozeki promotions are rare enough -- Safina will be the 29th female Ozeki of the open era (along side 27 male career-high Ozeki) -- but double-Ozeki promotions are extremely rare. In the ladies' game it has happened only once right at the beginning of the open era, when Anne Haydon-Jones and Nancy Richey made it to Ozeki at the Wimbledon tournament of 1968. In mens' open era tennis, the only double promotion has been Gustavo Kuerten's and Magnus Norman's at the French Open of 2000.

The majority of Ozeki have won one (14 female/11 male players) or more (5 female/12 male players) grand slam titles in their careers. It is to be hoped that Dementieva and Safina can live up to this standard. Safina will have an opportunity tonight when she battles the magnificent Serena Williams.

Should Safina fail at this occasion, something out of the ordinary would happen: Serena would win her 10th grand slam title, which is the common threshold for being considered a Dai-Yokozuna (great Grand Champion). Since the beginning of the open era, only six female and four male Dai-Yokozuna have been recognized as Dai-Yokozuna: Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles; Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer. Serena would join an outstanding elite group indeed.

Finally, the post-Australian Open ladies' sanyaku line-up is set:

Yokozuna: S. Williams, V. Williams
Ozeki: Safina (up from S), Dementieva (up from S)
Sekiwake: none
Komusubi: Jankovic (down from S), Ivanovic (down from S), Zvonareva (up from M1).

Demoted from Komusubi to Maegashira: Sharapova, Schnyder.