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Dinara Safina wins WTA Rogers Cup


Russia's Dinara Safina steamrolled Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-1 to capture the WTA Rogers Cup for her third title in her last six events here on Sunday.

Safina, who is enjoying one of the most productive runs of her career, needed just one hour, eight minutes to beat unseeded Cibulkova at the Uniprix Stadium court.

The 22-year-old Safina also won last week in the Williams sisters' backyard of Carson in south central Los Angeles. This was her fifth championship match in six events.

"It's the first time in my life I have won tournaments back-to-back," said Safina. "Usually I would win a tournament and the next week I would lose in the first round."

Safina blasted eight aces while teenager Cibulkova had just one and committed six double faults.

"I was happy when I won the first match, and then I was just taking it one match at a time," Safina said.

Safina came out with plenty of spark, breaking Cibulkova at the first opportunity to seize a 3-0 lead. She also roared to a 4-0 in the final set.

She has 28 wins and just three losses in the past three months. During that stretch she defeated nine players ranked in the top 10.

It was the eighth career title for Safina who collected 196,000 dollars in first place pirze money.

She reached her first grand slam final at this year's French Open, losing to world number one Ana Ivanovic.

Cibulkova, who was in just her second career final, had been a giant-killer this week, upsetting world No. 2 Jelena Jankovic, sixth-ranked Elena Dementieva and No. 12 seed Nadia Petrova.

"I was pretty nervous in my first big final and I wished to play better," Cibulkova said.