French Open

Top-seeded Dinara Safina has played the favorite’s role to perfection. An impressive run of matches now puts the flu-ridden Safina in the finals against 7th seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova. Safina’s straight-set 6-3, 6-3 triumph over diminutive Slovakian upstart Dominika Cibulkova did little to unseat the husky Russian as the favorite to win her first Grand Slam title.

Safina has a history of nerves in Grand Slam events and when Cibulkova came out firing two-handed backhand bullets to jump ahead 0-2, it seemed like Dinara might fade once again. To her credit, Safina gathered herself, adjusted her strategy and decided to make use of her distinct physical advantages.

The 6 foot 2 inch Runner-up in last year’s French Open proceeded to make the 5 foot 3 inch Cibulkova beat her with her forehand. Te strategy worked as the Slovakian fireplug, who prefers her backhand, lacked the patience to wait for her shot. Her forehand volleys were not strong enough to move Dinara around the court and forehand after forehand soon began to come up short.

Even when Safina hit soft second serves to Cibulkova’s forehand, the challenger could not drive the returns. The Slovakian’s inability to capitalize on Safina’s subpar second serve, characterized her fate. As the match went on, Safina took advantage of her 20 year-old opponent’s size by lobbing over her head when needed and by effectively moving her from side to side.

Cibulkova was under pressure the entire match and it gradually began to take a toll. Dominika has had a great year, going 13-9 in her singles matches prior to Roland Garros and winning almost $1 million, but she was no match for the steady Safina in the semis.

Dinara is one of the tour’s most determined players. Since her drubbing by Serena Williams in the finals at Melbourne, Safina has dedicated herself toward achieving her number one ranking and to winning her first Grand Slam event. Thus far, Dinara is the only top seed to stay the course. With Serena’s fall to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semis, Dinara will retain her number one ranking and is a heavy favorite to capture that elusive first Grand Slam crown.

Kuznetsova To Challenge

Another player has now emerged from the well-endowed stable of Russian women to challenge her country-mate for the Roland Garros title. It seems like wherever you look on the women’s professional tour, Russian women are dominating the rankings and the earnings. After this year’s French Open finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova will be moving up and now the Russian stable boasts the return of former world number one, Maria Sharapova who vows to be even stronger by Wimbledon.

The seventh seeded Kuztnesova blinked but prevailed against 30th seeded Australian pretty-girl Samantha Stosur. In a suspenseful match filled with emotional swings, Kuznetsova took control of the final set and would not let go. Her 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 2.5 hour win proved Svetlana to be a tough-minded workhorse with the ability to maintain her focus and play through pain.

In her quarterfinal win against Serena Williams, Kuztnesova turned her ankle, yet kept on playing. The hard-hitting blonde was determined to avoid the distractions that have led to several career setbacks. Not one to complain, Svetlana got back in the saddle and powered her way past Williams and used the same toughness to put aside her game Australian opponent.

Stosur, who has overcome her own physical setbacks, put up a noble fight. She was in every set, clawing at every point and showed plenty of heart throughout the semifinal match. Primarily recognized as a stellar doubles player, Samantha has ridden a win over Safina in Miami with her dominance of 4th seeded Elena Dementieva to propel herself into the top ten. That marks quite a leap for the 30 seed.

Kuznetsova now moves on to the finals against Safina, her confident opponent. Kuznetsova’s inconsistent serve may be the key to her match with Dinara. Stosur capitalized on the Russian’s soft first and even softer second serve. With Safina’s ability to attack the serve, the pressure will be on Svetlana to improve her velocity in the finals.

Against Stosur, Kuznetsova successfully landed 72% of her first serves, but she only averaged 150 kmh and she will not be able to drive Safina off the baseline. Kuznetsova’s second serve averaged a modest 129 kmh.

As a result, the finals shape up as a test for Svetlana. She will have to return Safina’s serve aggressively and be prepared to chase down Dinara’s driving returns of her own serves. For Svetlana to pull the upset, she will need to break Safina on multiple occasions because the top seed will certainly be on the attack.

Throughout the tournament, Kuznetsova has shown a champion’s capacity to counter-punch and play through reversals. If she gets out of the blocks quickly against Safina, she just may play her way to the title.