Paris, France (Sports Network) - Top-ranked Dinara Safina and seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova were both semifinal winners on Thursday to advance to the 2009 French Open final, set for Saturday at Roland Garros.
Safina took advantage of her opportunities to take one step closer to her first Grand Slam title, defeating 20th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-3 to advance to her second consecutive French Open final. The 23-year-old Russian was the runner-up to Ana Ivanovic in last year's tournament.
"I think I didn't play aggressive," Safina said. "Once I was down I started to play better, but I think still I have to be much more dominant on the court."
Kuznetsova had a tougher battle in her match, outlasting 30th-seeded Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 to advance to her second-ever French Open title match. She was the runner-up in this event in 2006 and was a semifinalist last year, when she lost to Safina in straight sets. Kuznetsova is seeking her second major tournament crown, having captured the 2004 U.S. Open as a 19- year-old.
The two Russians have gone head-to-head 13 times in their careers, dating back to 2000. Safina holds an 8-5 edge, including a straight-set victory in the title match in Rome this season. The two have squared off twice in the French Open, with each capturing one match. Safina has won five of the last six encounters.
Safina is a remarkable 20-1 on the clay surface this year; however, her only loss is to Kuznetsova in the final at Stuttgart.
"Last year it was everything much easier," Safina said of her back-to-back title match appearances. "I step on the court and have nothing to lose (last year), like same way (Ivanovic) was. I know that I have a chance, and I want to win it, so it's a little bit more pressure for me."
Cibulkova certainly had her opportunities to secure a better fate. The Slovakian native broke Safina in her first chance of the match, eventually taking a 2-0 lead in the first set. But the top-seeded Russian roared back by winning the next five games to take a commanding lead. Safina, though, was forced to work to win the set, finally coming through on her fifth set point with a forehand to the deep left corner that Cibulkova couldn't handle.
The 20-year-old Cibulkova had five total break points in the second set but failed to covert any of them. Safina, on the other hand, was successful on her first break point of the final set to take a 3-2 lead. Cibulkova had two break points in the following game for an opportunity to level it, but Safina was able to fend off both chances and hold serve for a 4-2 advantage. Cibulkova's frustrations mounted in the final game, when she committed her first and only double fault on the opening point en route to being broken to end the match.
"I would say that from my side, it was a really nervous tennis," Cibulkova said. "You know, I think it was really -- I mean, it was really tough to play today out there."
Safina's powerful ground game was dominant on the red clay at Roland Garros, as she posted 24 winners to Cibulkova's 11. She was able to take the match in 1 hour, 41 minutes.
Kuznetsova was also able to take advantage of her break point chances to edge Stosur. In the first set, there were five consecutive breaks of serve, with the Russian capturing three of them. The third break put her ahead, 4-3, and she was able to hold serve two straight times to close out the first set.
The second set went to a tiebreaker, and Kuznetsova appeared as though she would close it out easily, holding a commanding 5-2 lead. But Stosur strung together five straight points to equalize the match. The Australian started her rally with a beautiful crosscourt forehand winner and ended it with another forehand winner on her serve to squeak out the set.
"I'll be disappointed," Stosur said of the match, her first-ever Grand Slam semifinal. "But I'll wake up tomorrow and know that I had a great two weeks here and definitely will be looking forward to the next time I come back."
But Stosur ran out of steam in the third set. At 2-2, Kuznetsova held serve and followed with a break to take the lead. Stosur was never able to get the break back, as Kuznetsova took the third set in 42 minutes. The entire match lasted 2 hours, 25 minutes. The Aussie made 32 unforced errors in the match, compared to just 22 for her opponent.