The 2009 French Open championship match was much shorter and less thrilling than we had expected, with Svetlana Kuznetsova quickly defeating favorite Dinara Safina 6-4 6-2 in an-all Russian final. To make things worse, the world No.1 Safina double-faulted on the championship point.

The top-seeded Safina opened the match which began with an exchange of breaks. In the eighth and ninth game there was another exchange of breaks, and both players had a 40-0 lead on their opponent’s serve. Despite being quickly broken back in the ninth game, Kuznetsova broke Safina yet again in the tenth game, and took the first set.

In the second set, the seventh-seeded Kuznetsova earned breaks in the sixth and eighth games, to prevent the 23-year-old Safina from claiming her maiden Grand Slam title.

Safina has failed to crown her spectacular clay-court season, including her impressive run to the French Open finals, by losing her third Grand Slam final and second successive at Roland Garros. The 23-year-old Kuznetsova won her second Grand Slam title in her fourth major final.

Moreover, we are still having a shaky and slamless player on top of the rankings. Safina had an excellent chance, as well as ability, to make herself stand out from the rest, but she wasted the opportunity and hence failed to restore balance in women’s tennis.

The 74-minute match is the eighth consecutive straight sets women's final at Roland Garros. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Spain’s No.3 seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual have won their second consecutive French Open doubles title by beating 12th seeds Belorussian Victoria Azarenka and Russian Elena Vesnina 6-1 6-1.

Here’s what the doubles world No.6 Ruano Pascual said of her pairing with the doubles No.4 Medina Garrigues:

"We complete each other. She gives me the power I lack in my shots, and I give my strategic view."

The 35-year-old Ruano Pascual has now won her sixth French Open doubles title, and her tenth Grand Slam doubles title.

The Spaniards will split $435,000. (source: AP, photo via Yahoo)

This is probably the first time I was successful at predicting finalists, Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova have been by far my strongest favorites for Roland Garros title. The top-seeded Safina and seventh-seeded Kuznetsova defeated their semifinal opponents, Dominika Cibulkova and Samantha Stosur respectively, to make an all-Russian 2009 French Open final.

World number one Dinara Safina reached her second successive Roland Garros final by capitalizing on a series of costly errors from Slovakia’s world number 19 Dominika Cibulkova to win a scrappy match 6-3 6-3.

"I'm trying to control my emotions. I'm not playing my best, but still it's not easy to beat me," said Safina.

The 2006 French Open runner-up Kuznetsova served for the match in the second set and then squandered a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak, but recovered her nerve in the decider to defeat surprise semifinalist Samantha Stosur of Australia. Stosur will be a member of the Top 20 when the rankings are released on Monday.

Match-up: The 2006 US Open champion Kuznetsova will be competing in her fourth Grand Slam final, and Safina in her third. Safina leads their head-to-head record 8-5, and she won their last match, in the Rome final. However, Kuznetsova is the only player to have beaten Safina on clay this season. This should be the most thrilling French Open final we could get right now. (source: BBC, photos: Tennis Channel, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Second seed Serena Williams ended her 18-match Grand Slam winning streak by falling to seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals of the 2009 French Open.

Russia's Kuznetsova faced a set point serving at 5-6 in the first set, but she fought it off and eventually won the set. Despite being three points from defeat in the second set, Williams evened the match, and then took a 3-1 lead in the decider. Kuznetsova mounted the final comeback and broke serve in the last game to finally beat Williams 7-6(3) 5-7 7-5.

Williams was looking for her third successive Grand Slam title and the 11th of her career.

The 2004 US Open champion Kuznetsova, who has been my second favorite for the title, just after top seed Dinara Safina, will play Samantha Stosur in the semifinals. The 25-year-old Stosur has never won a Tour title, and will be playing in her first major semifinal. In the quarterfinals the Australian beat young Romanian phenomenon Sorana Cirstea 6-1 6-3.

The other semifinal will include Russian Dinara Safina and Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova. (source: AP, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

The French Open is in full swing and you must have heard of the Court Suzanne Lenglen at the Roland Garros Stadium. So who was Suzanne Lenglen? Women Who Serve reminded us of some interesting facts about her.

•    Lenglen was a Frenchwoman who lost only one match between 1919 and 1926;

•    Lenglen wore "shocking" designer tennis clothes (which helped her movement);

•    Lenglen cried on the court;

•    Lenglen drank brandy from an "emergency kit" between sets; Read more »