Oct 28, 2009, 18:38 GMT
Doha, Qatar - The tight race for the year-ending world number one took an unexpected twist Wednesday at the Sony Ericsson Championships when tearful Dinara Safina had to quit her match with Jelena Jankovic after 12 minutes due to back pain.
Jankovic, who lost her opening round-robin White group match 24 hours earlier against Victoria Azarenka, took the victory with just 15 points played and the score at 1-1.
The blink-of-an-eye contest was in sharp contrast to the nearly three hours it took fighting Dane Caroline Wozniacki to rally past Azarenka of Belarus 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.
The struggle featured a massive 39 break points, with Wozniacki rallying from the depths after being crushed in the first set.
The 20-year-old lost her serve eight times over a long evening while Azarenka was broken seven times.
In the evening's final encounter, number one ranking contender Serena Williams was facing her sister Venus, the Doha holder who lost her opening match to Russian Elena Dementieva.
Safina only took back the top WTA ranking prior to arrival in the Gulf for the year-end event which ends Sunday.
She must stay ahead of Williams this week in order to take the year-end top ranking for the first time for Russia.
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