Safina overpowers Wozniacki to seal Madrid title

By Iain Rogers

MADRID (Reuters) - World number one Dinara Safina swept to her second claycourt title in as many weeks with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki in the Madrid Open final on Sunday.

After her triumph over compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in last week's Rome final, the powerful Russian top seed sealed another comfortable win and looks in fine form leading up to the French Open at the end of this month.

Ninth seed Wozniacki missed a chance to break serve in the second game and Safina found her range in the sunshine in the new Magic Box stadium to open a 5-1 lead before serving out the set.

The Dane committed far too many unforced errors and the winners flowed for Safina and she broke again at the start of the second.

Wozniacki tried to mix up her game with some looping shots to the baseline and had chances to break in the eighth game but Safina held firm.

She missed one championship point on the Dane's serve but made no mistake on her second when serving for the match to clinch an 11th career title.

"I was very dominant in the first set and I had chances in the second to make a double break," Safina said at a news conference.

"I got a little bit tired by the end of the match. Still, in the crucial moments I was dominant."

Wozniacki, 18, won the title at Ponte Vedra Beach and was runner-up in Memphis and Charleston earlier this year and is projected to become the first Danish woman to break into the top 10 when the rankings are updated on Monday.

She said she now had her sights on number one.

"That's my goal," she told a news conference. "I'll take one step at a time. Now I am top 10 so I have nine steps to go."

(Editing by Justin Palmer)

Article Published: 17/05/2009