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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 9:55 a.m., Sunday, August 3, 2008

Tennis: Safina defeats Cibulkova to win Rogers Cup

Associated Press

MONTREAL — Dinara Safina won her second straight tournament, defeating Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-1 today to win the Rogers Cup and improve her record since May to 27-3.

Safina, a 6-foot Russian who had a 9-inch height advantage over the 19-year-old Slovak, was never in trouble in a final whose start was delayed briefly by rain.

The seventh-seeded Safina, who also won a tournament a week earlier in Carson, Calif., now has three tournament wins this year and eight in her career. She is expected to move from eighth to a career-high seventh in the world rankings.

The 31st-ranked Cibulkova ousted four seeded players en route to the final — No. 5 Elena Dementieva, No. 12 Nadia Petrova, No. 2 Jelena Jankovic and No. 10 Marion Bartoli.

The unseeded Cibulkova, who was seeking her first WTA tournament win, is expected to break into the top 20 for the first time.