Safina wears emotions on her sleeve

Sobs turned to lobs as an emotional Dinara Safina stormed into the quarter-finals of the US Open, defeating German qualifier Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-5, 6-0 on Monday.

Safina's coach Zeljko Krajan had to raise Safina's spirits before she would agree to take the court against the 141st-ranked Groenefeld on the 10,000-seat Armstrong Stadium.

"After the warm up I just started to cry. I could not stop crying," Safina said. "My coach said, 'Just go out there'.

"I said, 'I cannot push anymore myself'. He said, 'We know that you're not a machine. Just go out there and don't think.

"He told me again, 'just please don't show me any emotions, like these negative emotions.

NEW YORK, Tuesday AFP