Henin suffers shock defeat by Safina in Berlin

World number one Justine Henin was dumped out of the German Open yesterday, losing 5-7 6-3 6-1 to 13th seed Dinara Safina of Russia in the third round.

The Belgian top seed had won all five previous meetings against the powerful Safina, sister of former men's world number one Marat Safin, but was broken eight times on the clay at the Steffi Graf stadium and looked well short of her best.

Safina served for the match at 5-0 in the deciding set but Henin saved three match points and broke back only to lose her service and the match in the next game when she skewed a backhand into the sidelines.

A three times winner in Berlin and four times French Open champion, Henin was playing a tournament on her favourite clay surface for the first time this year as she prepares to defend her title in Paris starting at the end of this month.