Henin suffers shock defeat by Safina in Berlin

By Iain Rogers

BERLIN (Reuters) - World number one Justine Henin was dumped out of the German Open by Dinara Safina on Thursday, losing 5-7 6-3 6-1 in the third round.

The French Open champion's defeat by the Russian 13th seed meant she missed out on a highly-anticipated quarter-final clash with former world number one Serena Williams.

The American fifth seed thumped Polish 11th seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 6-1.

Holder and second seed Ana Ivanovic struggled against Austria's Sybille Bammer before emerging a 7-5 4-6 6-4 winner in the Steffi Graf stadium.

Belgian Henin had comfortably won five previous meetings against the powerful Safina but the seven-times grand slam champion was broken eight times on Thursday and looked well short of her best.

The 22-year-old Russian served for the match at 5-0 in the deciding set but the top seed saved three match points and broke back only to lose her service and the match in the next game when she skewed a backhand into the sidelines.

"It's never easy to lose and to lose that way," Henin said at a news conference.

"During the whole match I didn't have the intensity and the consistency and it was quite tough. There's nothing more I can really say. She's been better. That's it."