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)

Seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic was the first one to reach the final four. She defeated the last year’s French Open finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-0 3-6 6-1. Federer was definitely wrong when he said that Kuznetsova will take the trophy this year.

The rising 19-year-old from Serbia said that she has improved her physical fitness and that now she has more experience which helped her to be calmer in the match against Kuznetsova. Ivanovic will play Maria Sharapova for a place in the final.

Roland Garros was the one Grand Slam tournament in which Sharapova had never reached the semifinals — until Tuesday. In the quarterfinal match against Anna Chakvetadze, there was no evidence of Maria’s problems with the right shoulder. Maria, seeded second, scored the victory in straight sets 6-3 6-4.

"I really didn't know what to expect from [the shoulder]," Sharapova said. "I thought it was going to be worse than it was, so after the match, especially, I'm very pleased. But I wouldn't say I'm surprised or shocked by the situation."

I should mention that Sharapova last played Ivanovic in Tokyo back in February but retired with a hamstring injury trailing 1-6, 1-0. "She's had some good success this clay-court season," Sharapova said. "It will definitely be a very tough match."

Fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic continues to be the most successful WTA player this year. She has now won 44 of 54 matches. In the quarterfinals she beat sixth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova 6-3 7-5.

In the semis Jankovic will play the defending champion and top-seeded Justine Henin, who overwhelmed Serena Williams 6-4 6-3 to set up a semifinal against the Serb. They played five times till now and all their matches were three-setters. Even though J.J. won the first set four times, she has never defeated the Belgian. Maybe it’s time for her to do it now.

Jankovic, despite her recent success, still has a reputation of being something of a head case. "I will focus on my objectives, and whether or not she buckled under pressure, I mean, it doesn't matter," Henin said. "You might think that's an asset for me, the fact that she's psychologically weak, but I don't pay attention to that. I will have to be cautious, in fact." (source: ESPN, photos: BBC Sport)

Justine Henin BEL (1) vs. Serena Williams USA (8)

According to many people, these two players are most likely to win the 2007 French Open. Henin already possesses three titles from Paris (winning it in 2003, 2005, and 2006), while her opponent in the final 16 has one, from 2002.

In their flourishing careers, they’ve met nine times, and Serena leads 6-3. But maybe it’s more important to point out that the one more successful on clay was Justine. She defeated the American three times (in the finals of Berlin and Charleston, and in the semifinal of Roland Garros). Serena beat Henin on clay only once, in the final of Rome.

Jelena Jankovic SRB (4) vs. Nicole Vaidisova CZE (6)

Vaidisova leads 1-0 on clay. She defeated Jankovic in 2006, in the semifinal of Strasbourg. If we include their matches on other surfaces too, Vaidisova is also better, leading 4-2. However, we mustn’t forget Jelena’s fantastic results this season. In 2007 she’s already won three trophies: in Auckland, Charleston, and Rome.

Ana Ivanovic SRB (7) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (3)

Considering the matches they've played so far, Ana has better results, leading 2-1. On clay they played once, and Ana defeated Kuznetsova. That was in the last month’s final of Berlin.

Anna Chakvetadze RUS (9) vs. Maria Sharapova (2)

In this case, situation is clear – they played against each other three times and Chakvetadze has never beat Sharapova. Out of these three matches, they had only one on clay; in the last 32 of the 2005 Roland Garros when Sharapova defeated the compatriot in straight sets.

Internazionali BNL d'Italia is the most prestigious clay-court tournament after Roland Garros. It is a Tier I event with the prize money of $1,340,000.

Amelie Mauresmo of France is seeded at the top. She is the 2004 and 2005 winner, and in 2000, 2001 and 2003 she was in the final. Although world No. 4 has only recently returned to tennis, after a break caused by her appendix operation, she is still one of the favorites to take the trophy.

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova hasn't had a very satisfying year — she was a runner-up three times (in Doha, Indian Wells, and last week in Berlin). Still, without doubt, she has a potential to make Rome her first title of 2007.

World No. 5 Jelena Jankovic is definitely in good form. The Serbian has already collected two titles in 2007– Auckland and Charleston. We can expect a lot from her.

Although Serena Williams hasn't played since the Fed Cup first round in April, the 2002 champion, this year seeded 8th, is certainly someone we can't discount. She has been superb this season winning the Australian Open and Sony Ericsson Open. What more can you ask for?

Nadia Petrova of Russia is seeded fifth. She won three consecutive titles on clay last year. Her compatriot Dinara Safina, seeded sixth, reached the final on clay in Charleston, as well as last year in Rome when she was defeated by Martina Hingis.

Other players making up the top 8 seeds are Nicole Vaidisova and Anna Chakvetadze. We expect some good action from them as well.

We should also mention No. 12th seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia who won a tournament in Berlin a few days ago and entered the top 10 for the first time in her career. In Rome's quarterfinals we might have a chance to watch a re-run of Berlin's final with Kuznetsova.

Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis won't play this year because of injuries, while world No.1 Justine Henin didn't enter. (via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Today, at the Qatar Telecom German Open, 19-year-old Ana Ivanovic won her third career title. This is Ana's second Tier I title and 430 points she earned today put her in the top ten for the first time in her career (as of tomorrow she will be ranked 8th in the world).

The Serb beat Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4). It was a tough match for both players — Svetlana was tired because shortly before the match against Ana she had finished her semifinal match against Justine Henin, while Ana had problems with her left ankle.

Still, both Ana and Svetlana played superbly, with lots of powerful strokes. It was definitely a very close match.