For once, Dinara Safina chose not to use up one of her ‘many lives' on Thursday and swept into a French Open final against the new queen of women's tennis. Ana Ivanovic produced a scrappy, brittle and erratic performance but that did not stop her from ascending to the top of the women's rankings following a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic. Ivanovic may have fulfilled one of her childhood dreams by ending Maria Sharapova's reign as world number one but she will be aware that top spot will count for little if she fails to win the claycourt crown at Roland Garros on Saturday. “It was a tough match, there were lots of ups and down. I was just so happy to stay strong in the end and win the match, but it was a very tough one,” said Ivanovic, a finalist here 12 months ago and at the Australian Open in January. Asked what her plans would be for the night after she blew a 3-1 lead in the final set, Jankovic joked: “Kill myself?” While Jankovic tried to comprehend another semifinal flop at a major, Ivanovic will be hoping it will be third time lucky. To win the title Ivanovic will have to break the indomitable spirit of Safina, who reached her first Grand Slam final by overpowering fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2. The younger sister of Marat Safin had staged two successive great escapes, coming from a set and match points down to beat Sharapova and seventh seed Elena Dementieva, to reach the semis. It led to fourth seed Kuznetsova declaring: “She has too many lives, so I have to be careful with her.” But the 2004 US Open champion failed to heed her own words and became the third top-10 seed to fall under Safina's spell. “It was pretty horrible,” said a disgusted Kuznetsova, whom Justine Henin had picked as her successor to the title. Playing a hot-headed rival who had spent almost 5-1/2 hours on court in her last two matches, Kuznetsova would have been expected to wear down Safina. She had no such luck, however, and her normally reliable forehand crumbled. No matter what she tried, she shanked forehands wide, behind the baseline, and even into her own half of the court. The win also gave the Safin family a unique place in the record books. With Marat owning two Grand Slam trophies, Safina's win on Thursday means Saturday's final will mark the first time a brother and sister have appeared in grand slam singles finals. Ivanovic had shimmied into the last four, dropping only 20 games en route. But her contest against Jankovic, in which the number one ranking was also on the line, was plain ugly. The statistics told their own story. With at least 30 break points in the match and 13 of them being converted, the first all-Serb Grand Slam semifinal will not be remembered as a classic. – Reuters __
