SPORTS

DOHA: Dinara Safina's dream of becoming the first Russian to end the year as world number one was left in tatters on Wednesday when her aching body finally gave out at the WTA Championships.

The 23-year-old, who arrived in Doha ahead of 11-times grand slam champion Serena Williams in the rankings, managed just two games in her opening round-robin match against Serbia's Jelena Jankovic before a lower back injury flared up and she was forced to quit in tears.

Shortly afterwards she confirmed she would be unable to take any further part in the tournament, meaning Williams, courtesy of her group victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova on Tuesday, was guaranteed ending the year as the No.1 -- the first time she has done that since 2002.

Safina, who has been criticised for her failure to land a grand slam title, said she first injured her back in Slovenia in July but has battled on in pain to protect top spot, a position she held for 25 consecutive weeks this year.

"It's my low back, I have inflammation there in the bone," Safina, sister of former men's number one Marat, told reporters.

"I've been playing on in pain, on anti-inflammatories, on everything. It's been about three months.

"But as I was chasing this number one I was fighting with my body. God knows, maybe I should have stopped after the U.S. Open.

"I was still hoping, but then my body just gave up. And here, I did everything possible to play. I went yesterday to put injections, cortisone, but I could not handle this pain.