Dinara Safina seeks divine intervention. Photo via d.yimg.com

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WTA #1 Dinara Safina lost her third round match in Los Angeles Thursday night, falling to Zheng Jie by the score of 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.. 

Zheng was close to making this an easier victory, as she led 3-1 in the second before dropping that set and extending proceedings to a third.  But in the third she closed well, winning the last eight points of the match from 4-4 to take the set 6-4 and the match.

This loss will obviously bring a refrain of criticisms about Safina's status as #1.  Winning the smallest possible tournament in Slovenia didn't help silence claims that her ranking is based on unimportant tournaments, and neither will this loss.  Safina did not face any player ranked as high as Zheng in her five matches in Slovenia, nor did she beat any player ranked above Zheng in her five wins at Wimbledon, for that matter. 

But with Serena Williams also losing a match to a lower ranked opponent a few days ago (Samantha Stosur in Stanford), neither of the two women claiming to be #1 have made much headway in convincing anyone over the last week.

Zheng is no slouch, and neither is Stosur.  We'll get to see which is less slouchy tomorrow, when they play in a quarterfinal match.

In my mind, the only threat to win the title outside of that pair is Maria Sharapova, who has a really great chance of taking home the title (and the lead in the US Open Series).