Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic defeated Dinara Safina of Russia 6-4 6-3 in Saturday’s final at the 2008 French Open to claim her first Grand Slam title.

The world No.2 Ivanovic was successful at her third attempt in a Grand Slam final. Last year at the French Open nerves got the best of her and she was demolished by clay-court specialist Justine Henin. Ivanovic also played the 2008 Australian Open final, but Maria Sharapova was too good for her then. Today, however, everything was just right for Ivanovic as her nerves, her game and her bullet-like forehand worked well. Comeback artist Dinara Safina, ranked 14th in the world, wasn't able to fight back this time.

Second seed Ivanovic broke Safina in the first game of the match, and then again in the fifth, without losing a single point. Read more »

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 »