Serbia's Ana Ivanovic reacts as she plays compatriot Jelena Jankovic during their semi-final match of the French Open tennis tournament yesterday. Ivanovic won 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. - AP
PARIS (AP)
Dinara Safina needs only one more win to join her older brother as a Grand Slam champion, and she'll try for it tomorrow against Ana Ivanovic in the French Open final.
Dispensing with the come-from-behind drama of her previous two matches, Safina advanced yesterday by beating fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2.
Ivanovic then won a see-saw semi-final against fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Ivanovic swept the final three games for a victory that ensures she'll be ranked No. 1 for the first time next week, replacing Maria Sharapova.
Safina's berth in a major final is her first. Her brother Marat Safin is a former No. 1 player who won the 2000 US Open and 2005 Australian Open.
"I'm doing it for him and for myself," she said.
Error-prone
Seeded 13th, Safina was one point from defeat against Sharapova in the fourth round and No. 7-seeded Elena Dementieva in the quarter-finals before mounting comebacks.
But against the error-prone Kuznetsova, Safina took a 4-1 lead and cruised the rest of the way.
"I won in two sets - that's strange for me," Safina said. "Once I had a set, then I knew I can push a little bit more. Then fire comes and you really like start to fly."
The men's semi-finals today will include the world's three top-ranked players - No. 1 Roger Federer, No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Novak Djokovic - and Frenchman Gael Monfils, at No. 59 the lowest-ranked men's semi-finalist at Roland Garros since 1999.
Monfils plays Federer, who is seeking the only Grand Slam title he has yet to win. Djokovic faces Nadal, who is 26-0 at Roland Garros and two wins from a fourth consecutive French Open title.
The match between the No. 2-seeded Ivanovic and No. 3 Jankovic was a roller coaster, with every set won by the player who fell behind at the start.
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