PARIS, (Reuters) – Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, the world’s best women claycourters in 2009, relied on their wealth of experience to set up an all-Russian final at the French Open yesterday.
Safina, in pursuit of a maiden grand slam title, barely resembled a player who tops the world rankings but that did not stop her beating Slovakian teenager Dominika Cibulkova 6-3 6-3.
Seventh seed Kuznetsova also produced a scrappy, brittle and erratic performance before ending the run of Australian world number 32 Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-7 6-3.
The Russian duo had been the favourites to reach the final before the start of the claycourt major and, after toiling in the sun for 12 days, they set up the first all-Russian final at Roland Garros since 2004.
The showdown should be an intriguing affair because since becoming world number one in April, Safina has swept to a 20-1 record on clay. Her one loss was to Kuznetsova.
“I know that I have a chance and I want to win it, so it’s a little bit more pressure for me,” said Safina, who was runner-up to Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic 12 months ago.
Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion, played down her chances: “She’s going to be favourite to win. She’s number one. She played an unbelievable season (and) she beat me last time.”
Safina has won five of her last six matches against Kuznetsova but would be foolish to dismiss the threat posed by her rival who is turning out to be the marathon woman of these championships after winning three successive three setters.
Should Safina triumph, it will also give her family a unique place in the record books. With Marat owning two major trophies, a win tomorrow for Safina will mark the first time a brother and sister have captured grand slam singles titles.
With so much at stake, it was little wonder that Safina wobbled at the start and Cibulkova pounced to nose into a 2-0 lead, ending both games by ripping passing shot winners.
It did not take Safina long to mete out some punishment of her own and she rattled through the next five games, but after earning three set points on the Cibulkova serve at 5-2 up the Russian fluffed all three with forehand errors.
Unfortunately for grand slam semi-final debutant Cibulkova, it was only a brief respite as Safina nailed the set in the next game when the Slovak failed to control her opponent’s whipped forehand.
Safina, who like her brother struggles to keep a lid on her emotions, clearly seemed more fired up in the second set.
Serving at 1-0 down, she flashed her eyes and smashed the ball into the ground following a dispute with the umpire.
The antics rumbled on in the next game.
As Cibulkova approached the net to check another mark, the Russian was loudly whistled by the crowd when she used her racket to scratch a large triangle around the ball imprint to ensure the umpire did not make a mistake this time round.
From then on, the 23-year-old cooled down, narrowed her eyes and slammed the door shut on Cibulkova.
“From my side it was really nervous tennis,” said Cibulkova, who has never won a title on tour. “I felt fresh and everything and I wanted to play good tennis but I didn’t make it mentally.”
Playing in her first grand slam singles semi-final, Stosur valiantly tried to gatecrash the Russian party on Centre Court but was undone by Kuznetsova’s greater weight of shot.
It was a very different story in the first set, however, as Kuznetsova’s forehand was rapidly leaking errors.
After five successive breaks of serve, Kuznetsova finally plugged the mistakes to hold for a 5-3 lead and, following an injury time out to treat a blister on her right foot, the 2006 Paris runner-up bounded around court to wrap up the set.
Like Safina, she appeared to be streaking towards a straight sets win when she leapt into a 4-2 lead in the second.
At this point, Stosur took off her sunglasses, wiped them clean, put them back on and soon put Kuznetsova in the shade. She first levelled for 4-4 and then piled on the misery by fighting back from 5-2 down in the tiebreak to clinch the set.
However, the effort seemed to wipe out the Australian who could not muster the same level of play in the decider and she bowed out by drilling a forehand into net as the match headed towards the 2-1/2 hour mark.
