At the tournament, she partnered Nathalie Dechy to win the women's doubles title, her first Grand Slam title. In October, Safina achieved only her second win over a player ranked in the top 10 that season, defeating world No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze en route to the semifinals of Moscow. She finished the season as world No. 16. Safina started 2008 poorly, winning just 11 of her first 21 matches. Her best result in singles play during this period was a run to the quarterfinals of Miami, defeating Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round. Safina has admitted that she was considering quitting tennis during this period. Meanwhile, she won doubles titles in Gold Coast, partnering Ágnes Szávay; and in Indian Wells, partnering Elena Vesnina. In May, at the clay-court event in Berlin, Safina defeated world No. 1 Justine Henin in the third round. Safina went on to defeat Serena Williams for the first time in the quarterfinals, ending Williams's 17-match winning streak. She then defeated Elena Dementieva in the final to win the first Tier I title of her career. Safina retrospectively called the tournament "the key to her tennis life". As the 13th seed at the French Open, Safina defeated new world No. 1 Maria Sharapova, having saved a match point. In the quarterfinals, Safina defeated Dementieva, after saving match points again. Then, in her first Grand Slam semifinal, Safina defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, before losing to Ana Ivanovic in the final. Her results at this tournament caused her ranking to rise to world No. 9. On grass, Safina lost in the final of 's-Hertogenbosch to Tamarine Tanasugarn. At Wimbledon, Safina lost in the third round to Israeli Shahar Pe'er. At Los Angeles in July, Safina defeated top-seeded Jelena Janković in the semifinals before claiming her second title of the year by defeating Flavia Pennetta in the final. The following week, Safina won the Tier I Montreal, defeating Dominika Cibulková in the final. This marked the first time in her career that she had won titles at back-to-back tournaments, and it moved her up to world No. 6, her highest career ranking at the time. She also won the US Open Series as a result of this victory.