Justine Henin totally dominated in the women’s final of Roland Garros on Saturday. She crushed seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic 6-1 6-2, the first Serbian player to reach the final of a grand slam. Ivanovic was only the shadow of the exciting newcomer who had thrilled the Paris crowd earlier in the tournament; she challenged the top seed in the first couple of games but then collapsed.

Taking the trophy once again, the 25-year-old Henin became the first woman to win three successive French Open titles since Monica Seles in 1992. In addition, the Belgian is the first woman since tennis turned professional in 1968 to win back-to-back Roland Garros crowns without dropping a set; the last time she dropped a set in Paris was in the fourth round in 2005. She also became fifth woman since 1925 to win the French title four or more times, joining Chris Evert (7), Steffi Graf (6), Margaret Court (5) and Helen Wills Moody (4).

As for Ana Ivanovic, she is still young, and there is no doubt that great results are ahead of her. In the final against superb Henin, her nerves had let her down, but she promised she would remember the lesson. Earlier in the tournament Ana easily beat second-seeded Maria Sharapova, but she wasn’t strong enough for the queen of the French Open.

"In the beginning I felt okay but then all of a sudden I started feeling nervous," said the 19-year-old Ivanovic.

"I did everything I could. I felt comfortable being in the final but once on the court, I started to think about the situation and there were just too many emotions."

"This was a great experience," Ivanovic said. "I can learn from Justine. I'm sure she was nervous too but she dealt with it better because she's such a great champion.

"If I could have controlled my emotions better, it would have been a different match."

Ivanovic, who said here how she had started hitting balls at the bottom of an empty swimming pool and later struggled to get visas to leave her war-torn country to play abroad, then reminded everybody she had shone in Paris before the final.

"It's been an amazing tournament for me," she said. "I beat great players and I'm proud of what I have achieved. I'm excited about the tournaments I'm going to play and the next chances I'm going to get."

Convinced that she will learn to handle her emotions in important matches, Ivanovic doesn’t lack confidence and determination.

"My ambition is to win grand slams and reach number one," she said. "In order to do that I have to learn how to deal with pressure. I feel I'm on the right way." (source: Reuters, photo: BBC)

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I listened to a short interview of Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic in which the rising tennis star talked about how she would love to represent her country together with Jelena Jankovic.

The 19-year-old Ivanovic thinks that Serbia has a very good Fed Cup team, and that they deserve a place in the World Group.

With united powers of these two great players, Serbia can certainly achieve a lot and become a real power in the Fed Cup.

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After the 6-2 6-1 humiliation by Ana Ivanovic in the Roland Garros semifinal, world No. 2 Maria Sharapova turned her thoughts to her love affair with Wimbledon.

The 20-year-old Russian will warm-up for the third Slam of the year at next week's Birmingham Classic, a Tier III event she won in 2004 and 2005.

Maria, who said last week that she felt like a “cow on ice” on clay, now has something to look forward to:

"I'm excited. My favorite time of the year is coming up, the grass and the hard court season. So I'm very looking forward to it,"

"I love being part of Wimbledon. I can't even say how happy I am when this time of year comes around.

"I'm always thinking from the beginning of the year, 'I hope I'm always healthy when Wimbledon comes around because it's a very special place in my career, in my heart'.

"I always love going back there." (source: Reuters)

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Ana Ivanovic of Serbia made it to the final of a grand slam tournament for the first time with a 6-2 6-1 demolition of world number two Maria Sharapova at the French Open on Thursday.

The 19-year-old Ivanovic, seeded seventh, performed close to perfection beating second-seeded Sharapova in just 65 minutes. At the end of the match, she had three match points, but sealed the victory on the first one with an ace.

"I knew I had to be aggressive from the beginning and that's what I tried to do," said Ivanovic. "I knew she was not a great mover on clay and I tried to play deep balls to put her under pressure."

Russia’s Sharapova, who said last week that she felt like a "cow on ice" on clay, made too many unforced errors and looked helpless at times.

In the second semifinal of the day, the defending champion Justine Henin was yet again too good for Jelena Jankovic. Belgian Henin overcame Jankovic 6-2 6-2, and is seeking to become the first woman to win three consecutive French Open titles since Monica Seles in 1990-92.

"I expected a tough battle against Jankovic," said Henin.

"All our previous games have been that way so I tried to take command right from the start.

"I think she took a heavy blow to her morale by losing her serve so easily at the end of the first set and that allowed me to open strongly in the second set.

"It will be a very hard match against Ivanovic."

The 2007 Roland Garros finalists met only once, two years ago – they played on clay, in Warsaw, and Justine won 6-4, 7-5.

(sources: Reuters, BBC Sport)

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A small country without a national tennis centre has three players in the top 10 – that’s Serbia! Amazing! And not only that — Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic reached the semis of Roland Garros, as well as their male compatriot Novak Djokovic.

"Wherever you go, it's just Serbians all over the place, winning all these matches," said Jankovic, laughing. "It's just incredible. I'm just proud of that and just, hopefully, we can keep going."

Here’s what one Serbian newspaper wrote in its daily Roland Garros report: "What seemed like a distant dream a year ago is becoming reality — Serbia is taking over the world's tennis scene."

Jankovic and Ivanovic have made a fantastic progress. A year ago, they were ranked No. 32 and No. 21. Today, they are No. 5 and No. 7, respectively. It will be the first Grand Slam singles semifinal for Ivanovic and only the second for Jankovic, who reached the U.S. Open semis last year, only to lose to Henin — her opponent on Thursday.

However, we will be watching an historic all-Serbian French Open final only if Jelena and Ana defeat the number one and two seeds.

Fourth-seeded Jankovic plays top-seeded Justine Henin in the semifinal. Although the Serb lost all five of their previous meetings, it was never easy for the Belgian since she always gained victory in three sets. We also have to point out that Jankovic is definitely in good form, winning three titles in 2007 - Auckland, Charleston, and Rome. Actually, if we were looking only at the points earned this year, Jankovic would have been ranked No. 1.

About her match with Justine the world No. 5 said: "I think I can do it. It's a matter of staying concentrated and being mentally tough."

Henin, who is looking to become the first woman since Monica Seles in 1992 to win three straight French Open titles, is wary of her much-improved opponent.

"She doesn't make a lot of errors. She has a lot of pace, and she fights a lot," said the 25-year-old Belgian.

"I would say that if I'm able to get my game together, in all likelihood, I might win, but it will be a tricky match."

Ivanovic’s opponent on Thursday will be Maria Sharapova. Both of them will play their first Roland Garros semi-final.

Sharapova, despite admitting that she struggles on clay, wouldn’t be surprised if she won this year’s French Open.

"Others might be surprised because I didn't play a lot on clay when I was younger.

"It also doesn't surprise me that I'm in the semi-finals. I am proud to have made it. In every tournament I play, I always believe in myself whether it's clay or mud. I know what I'm capable of." (sources: BBC Sport, Reuters, ESPN)

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