Safina books second successive final slot

Last year’s beaten finalist Dinara Safina will get another chance to win the French Open after she defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6-3 6-3 in Thursday’s first semi-final. The Russian was nervous and far from her best, but her inexperienced Slovakian opponent did not possess the variety of shots to knock the top seed off her pedestal. Safina will face Svetlana Kuznetsova in a clay-court final for the third time this year, after losing in Stuttgart and winning the title in Rome. Safina had swept into the quarter-finals on the back of some incredibly dominant tennis, only to lose her rhythm in the last eight when it took her three sets to overcome the pugnacious Victoria Azarenka. Cibulkova was the surprise package, the diminutive Slovak taking advantage of upsets to Venus Williams and Nadia Petrova in her half of the draw to make her first ever Grand Slam semi-final. Fast start then change of tack Despite having lost their only two previous encounters, Cibulkova was quicker out of the blocks and opened up an immediate 2-0 lead, slicing two delicious drop-shots that the Russian could not reach. For some reason, the No20 seed then went away from variations in length and attempted to out-hit her Russian opponent – a strange tactic given Safina’s 20 centimetre height advantage. Fans of deft tennis were left ruing Cibulkova’s change of tack, as the match turned into a baseline battle from which the 1.80m Safina was always favourite to emerge victorious. The Russian was nervous on serve, as has often been the case in the past when the stakes have been high, and she often used the slice or the kick on her first service rather than taking risks. But with Cibulkova smashing everything back at her, she merely had to stay in rallies until the Slovak invariably netted a forehand. Nervous but comfortable Safina took five games in a row, playing safe tennis and waiting for Cibulkova to miss her spots at the end of rallies, and took the opening set at a relative canter 6-3, forcing the Slovak into 19 errors with her sheer strength. And unfortunately for the crowd, the diminutive Dominika continued to fight fire with fire in the second, despite it being a battle that she was unlikely to win. Safina’s service became even more shaky, with five more double faults coming, often on big points, to add to the two from the first set, but in truth she was never really stretched, breaking at 3-2 and coasting – nervously – home. Her previous two Grand Slam finals – here last year and at the Australian Open last January – saw Safina little more than a hollow shell due to lack of confidence, particularly against Serena Williams in Melbourne where she described herself as “little more than a ball girl on court”. She will have to silence the doubts in her mind on Saturday if she is to win her first ever Grand Slam – as befits a true world No1.