Dinara Safina, the best story of the 2008 French Open, continued her inspiring run on Thursday by upsetting Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the championship match.
Ana Ivanovic, the new incoming Sony Ericsson WTA Tour world number one, will face Safina in Saturday’s final.
Safina, the thirteenth seed, bested her fourth seeded countrywoman in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.
It was a nervy performance by both Russians with five service breaks in the opening set alone.
This time, Safina did not need to mount a big comeback from behind—something she has been forced to do in both of her last matches against Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva.
Thursday’s first semifinal was expected to be a closer battle, but Svetlana Kuznetsova came out sluggish and by the start of the second set, her body language was disheartening. It was a terrible performance by the 2004 US Open champion, closing the door on one of her best opportunities to win a second Grand Slam title.
For the second consecutive year, Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic is in the Roland Garros women’s championship match. Ivanovic reached the singles final in 2007 before losing to a now-retired Justine Henin in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
Playing with a spot in Saturday’s final—and the Tour’s top spot—on the line, Ivanovic outlasted her older countrywoman Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the second semifinal of the day in Paris.
Ivanovic appeared in control of the match after the opening set, but lost some of her aggression during the second set. This momentary lapse in concentration allowed Jankovic to force a deciding set and race to a 3-1 lead before Ivanovic stepped up her game.
She broke Jankovic’s serve for the seventh time on her first match point with a blistering forehand return up the line.
Despite the outcome of the final on Saturday, Ivanovic is assured of overtaking Maria Sharapova on Monday’s edition of the Tour rankings. She will become the first Serbian in history to be the No. 1 ranked female player in the world.
Check back at On the Baseline on Friday for a preview of the championship match!
MENTAL STRENGTH
Safina has despatched Sharapova, Dementieva and Kuznetsova because she has a much better level of mental strength this year. Maria and Svetlana can look fragile, but often combine talent, skill and grit at key moments to turn a match. And they both have some power shots. Elena can turn a match on shot combinations.
But none of them have been able to respond with the sheer mental determination of Dinara. Which has built to such an extent that she basically blew Svetlana off the court. She looked to build points. She overcame double faults. She took chances. She dug in and battled. All, sometimes, in the same game!
Let’s not hear about players below strength. Let’s hear it for a player turning up the heat, rising to the occasion, and getting the rewards of years of hard work and practice! Safina – my new Amazon inspiration!
Ditto on that…so glad to see her getting past her mental roadblocks to win BIG.
Other players aren’t all Safina is taking out.
Q. What do you think of this final, Slav final? Do you have an explanation why there are so many Russian/Serbian players in the top at this moment?
DINARA SAFINA: This is first time you are in a press conference? Because every time the same questions you ask. I don’t know how many times we have to say, I guess from the beginning, that we have a pretty good school for the technique.
Safina is soooooooooo fierce! She’s even knocking out the media! I love her!
Dinara’s talent rising and shining! It’s high time she goes out of her brother Marat’s shadow.
I hope she brings home the Cup! She certainly deserves it after beating Justine (in Berlin), Svetlana, Dementieva, and Maria on clay.
Allez Dinara!!!