Ninth seed and former World No. 1 Dinara Safina of Russia came to a crashing halt in the French Open Tuesday as she was defeated by Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Safina, a beaten finalist here in 2008 and 2009, took the first set but Date Krumm stuck to her task and claimed victory on her first match point when the Russian sent a lazy backhand well beyond the baseline.
Date Krumm, 39, became the second oldest winner of a Roland Garros match after Virginia Wade and will face Australian wild card Jarmila Groth
Jarmila Groth in the second round.
