Seed No.13 Dinara Safina continued her impressive run at the 2008 Roland Garros defeating compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-2 and moving into her first ever Grand Slam final. Safina was a point from defeat in her previous two matches but she needed no miraculous recovery against Kuznetsova.

World No.14 Safina, who debuted in a Grand Slam semifinal, dominated over four-time Grand Slam semifinalist Kuznetsova and became the first woman to take a set from Kuznetsova at the 2008 French Open.

Safina established a 4-1 lead by breaking Kuznetsova twice in the first five games. Despite working her way back to 4-3, Kuznetsova was broken again and Safina served out the set. The second set started with an exchange of breaks, but then Safina broke again at 2-2, and again to take a 5-2 lead which signified the end of Kuznetsova.

On route to the final Safina defeated Kateryna Bondarenko, Magdalena Rybarikova, Jie Zheng, top seed Maria Sharapova, seventh seed Elena Dementieva, and finally fourth Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In the 2008 French Open final, Safina will play second seed Ana Ivanovic who has just won a difficult semifinal encounter against fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic. (photo: Getty Images)

This year at Roland Garros we will have an all-Serbian and an all-Russian semifinal. In the Russian semifinal Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova will meet each other.

World No.14 Safina moved into the final four with another remarkable comeback victory. The No.13 seed defeated countrywoman Elena Dementieva. Seventh-seeded Dementieva led 5-2 in the second set and looked set for victory when she reached match point at 5-4. But Safina fought back to triumph 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-0. This victory came just two days after she beat world number one Maria Sharapova in the fourth round in almost identical fashion.

Safina is turning out to be one of the greatest comeback artists on the Grand Slam stage. With the victory over Dementieva she has become the first woman since tennis turned professional in 1968 to have come from match point down in successive grand slam matches — winning both.

Fourth-seeded Kuznetsova struggled in the first set, trailing Estonian world No.49 Kaia Kanepi 4-2 and 40-0 in the next game, but eventually stepped up a gear and claimed a convincing 7-5 6-2 win.

World No.3 Kuznetsova has a 4-3 head-to-head record against Safina, while on clay that record is 3-2. Moreover, Kuznetsova won their last match, which was also on clay in Rome last year. (sources: BBC, Reuters; photos: Getty Images)

Top seed Maria Sharapova of Russia had struggled for form in her opening three matches and eventually she fell to compatriot Dinara Safina 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 in the fourth round of the French Open.

No.13 seed Safina didn't make use of two set points she had in the opener, and in the second set she saved a match point, but in the end she beat the three-time Grand Slam champion.

Safina will next play the 2004 Roland Garros runner-up Elena Dementieva. Seventh-seeded Dementieva advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4 1-6 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva, seeded 11th.

The fourth-round match between Dementieva and Zvonareva was full of errors. There were 11 breaks of serve in their 25 games and the pair conjured up 78 unforced errors between them.

In the quarterfinals, Dementieva will be playing her third Russian opponent and therefore she feels as if she were not in France: "I feel like I'm playing a Russian championship not Roland Garros." (source: BBC, photo via Tennis Channel)

Last week was one of the most memorable times in Dinara Safina's career, as she won the Qatar Telecom German Open beating three Top 10 players on the way. Today, the Russian has withdrawn from the tournament following the one in Berlin.

World No.14 Safina is out of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome and the official reason for her withdrawal is a back injury. Read more »

Russia's Dinara Safina came back from a set down for the third time in the tournament to win the Qatar Telecom German Open on Sunday with a 3-6 6-2 6-2 victory over compatriot Elena Dementieva.

World No.17 Safina beat three Top 10 players – No.1 Justine Henin, No.6 Serena Williams, and finally No.9 Elena Dementieva — on route to her first Tier I title, and sixth career singles title. Read more »

Seventh seed Elena Dementieva defeated defending champion Ana Ivanovic 6-2 7-5 at the Qatar Telecom German Open to set up an all-Russian final against Dinara Safina.

Ana Ivanovic is yet to beat Elena Dementieva, as she now trails the Russian 4-0 in head-to-head terms. In today’s semifinal, Ivanovic made too many unforced errors. She had a set point in the second set, but an all too familiar unforced error saw her chance disappear. Because the Serb didn’t manage to reach the final in Berlin, she’ll drop to No.3 in the rankings and Maria Sharapova will rise to No.3.

In-form Dinara Safina, who beat Justine Henin in the third round before ending Serena Williams's 17-match winning streak, advanced to the Qatar Total Open final with a 6-4 6-1 victory over Victoria Azarenka. Safina, seeded 13th, had to twice battle back from a break down in the first set against 18-year-old Azarenka. But in the second set, Azarenka seemed to be struggling with a knee injury, and Safina cruised to victory in just under one-and-a-half hours. Anyway, Belorussia's Azarenka is projected to crack the Top 20 for the first time on the new rankings — she will rise from No.26 to No.19. (via BBC)

World No.17 Dinara Safina first upset No.1 Justine Henin at the Qatar Telecom German Open, and on Friday the Russian has continued her impressive run winning a thrilling three-setter over another Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams.

The result shows the excitement of the quarterfinal — 2-6 6-1 7-6(5) — Safina came back from a set down and pulled off the victory in the tiebreaker. Safina described the win over world No.6 Serena Williams as "one of the best matches of my life".

In the semifinals, seed No.13 Safina will face unseeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus who defeated the 15th seed Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 7-6 6-2.

Defending champion Ana Ivanovic played a quarterfinal against Agnes Szavay, but at one set all, the match was called off due to bad light. They will continue the match on Saturday. The winner of the match between Ivanovic and Szavay will meet Elena Dementieva after she beat Jelena Jankovic in an up-and-down 6-3 2-6 6-3 win. (source: BBC, photo via Craig Hickman)

Lindsay Davenport produced a stunning victory yesterday, sending home world No.2 Ana Ivanovic, but the American couldn’t repeat such an impressive level of tennis in the last 16 and fell to Russian Dinara Safina 6-3 6-4.

In other completed matches on Monday, world No.1 Justine Henin saw off Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-2, while Venus Williams defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-3 and set up a quarterfinal against Svetlana Kuznetsova, who beat Shahar Peer 7-6 6-3. (photo via Getty Images)