The two siblings couldn't be more similar in physical apparency and different as far as mental strength is concerned. Marat has always been subjected to highs and lows, a fact that made him so unpredictable that you sat in the stands or in front of the TV and asked yourself which Marat was going to play that day, the slam-winning one or the one capable of losing to a man who had never before defeated a top-50 guy. Dinara, on the other, hand is almost certainly less talented than her brother (and probably of some of her opponents on the WTA circuit), but she has two characteristics that allow her to make amends for her slightly lower talent: consistency and resiliency.
As far as the first is concerned, she has shown of being capable of reaching at least the Semifinals in all four slam tournaments: this year she has reached 8 finals, winning three (2 o clay and 1 on hard surface), and lost twice more in the semis (both on grass). She may have yet to win a slam but f.e. this year she has twice been the runner up and reached the semifinal in the other.
Talking about her resiliency, I had the chance to witness it last night during her first round match at the US Open against teenage aussie Olivia Rogowska that she eventually won 6-7 6-2 6-4. After gifting her opponent the first set - and Dinara did exactly that failing to exploit the chances she had in the 12th game and in the tie break and eventually committing a couple of crucial errors - she came back strongly in the second set despite an almost non-existent serve. Once Rogowska started to play in the third set like she did in the first, Dinara found herself twice in the hole, at 0-2 and 2-4: in the former the aussie even had the chance to climb up to 3-0, a risk that Dinara avoided thanks to a couple of wonderful plays. The key game was the 9th, on Rogowska's serve, when the two girls battled for almost 15 mins exchanging some good plays and some not unforced but really horrible errors due to fatigue, tiredness and the heat.
The decisive turning point of the game came when Rogowska came down to the net and tried three times, unsuccesfully, to claim the advantage only to see Dinara unlash a perfect backhand that curled away from the aussie and landed a couple of inches inside the left-side line of Rogowska's court. From there Dinara went on to claim the last 6 points of the game breaking for 5-4 and then taking advantage of 3 unforced errors by her opponent in the 10th game of this 3-set marathon.
It was a game that if it had featured her brother I could have easily predicted as a Marat's loss (despite admitting that he's my favorite player in the ATP circuit because of his unpredictability and capacity to entertain), but with Dinara on the court I was certain she'd be able to find a way to cope with it because of her resiliency (despite her two first round losses this year in minor tournaments).
Now she will meet Kristina Barrois of Germany in the second round - the German is ranked 67th in the singles ranking - with a chance to meet Barrois's doubles partner Tathiana Garbin in the third round, if the Italian will defeat Czech Petra Kvitova.
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