Dinara Safina #1 in Women’s Tennis Rankings

Dinara Safina officially took over the top ranking on the WTA Tour on Monday, making her and older sibling Marat Safin the only brother-sister duo to have been No. 1 in professional tennis.

Safina, who has yet to win a Grand Slam tournament title but twice reached a major final, is the 19th woman to top the rankings since they were introduced in 1975. She is also only the second Russian woman after Maria Sharapova.

Safina replaced Serena Williams at the top, even though the American beat her in the Australian Open final this year. Last year, Safina lost to Ana Ivanovic in the French Open final.

Marat Safin was ranked No. 1 on the men’s tour in 2000, the same year he won the first of two Grand Slam singles titles.

“He has two Grand Slams,” Safina said of her brother in a video posted on the WTA’s website. “He’s still much better than me, so I have to catch him.”

Safina won four titles last year.

Jankovic, Safina and Venus Advance at Porsche Grand Prix

U.S. Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic, French Open and Olympic runner-up Dinara Safina and Wimbledon champion Venus Williams were a trio of second-round winners Thursday at the $650,000 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

The second-seeded Jankovic, who will supplant Serena Williams atop the world rankings on Monday, blew past Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-0 on the indoor hardcourts at Porsche Arena. The steady Jankovic was last week’s hardcourt champion in Beijing.

Jankovic’s quarterfinal opponent here on Friday will be seventh-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, who zipped past France’s Marion Bartoli 6-2, 6-0 on Day 4. Zvonareva captured an Olympic bronze medal in Beijing back in August.

Meanwhile, the third-seeded Safina, who titled at a WTA Tour event in Beijing two weeks ago and captured a silver medal at the Beijing Games, got past Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), while a sixth-seeded Venus waltzed past Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4, 6-2.

Russian Nadia Petrova cooled off Swiss lefthander Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-1, as Schnyder was riding a five-match winning streak, including a title in Bali last month.

Friday’s other quarters will pit Safina against Venus, fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva versus Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Chinese Na Li against Petrova. Dementieva is the reigning Olympic gold medalist. Li shocked a top-ranked Serena here on Wednesday.

The 2008 Stuttgart titlist will take home $100,000.