Safina cruises into final

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The 22-year-old Russian continued her dream run at Roland Garros by booking her place in her first-ever grand slam final with a 6-3 6-2 victory over an off-key Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Safina had to fight back from a set and 2-5 down in each of her last two matches to eliminate top seed Maria Sharapova in the last 16 and Elena Dementieva in the quarter-finals, and the straightforward manner of this latest win will be welcome ahead of Saturday's final.

Both players struggled to get to grips with their serves in the opening set, but it was Kuznetsova who was labouring most, the fourth seed dropping her first service game without much of a fight.

The players shared out four further service breaks in the next six games to leave Safina serving for the match at 5-4, but the see-saw nature of the first set meant it was far from a formality.

But Safina pulled it together when it counted, bringing up two set points with a delicious drop-shot before Kuznetsova fired long after a superb rally to hand her opponent the opener after 39 minutes.

The second set began in much the same manner as the first, Safina enjoying the early break of service as an increasingly frustrated Kuznetsova struggled to hit her stride.

Kuznetsova briefly rallied to break back and then hold to love for 2-1, but again her demons returned as the winners began to elude her in the next game.

An enthralling rally in the fifth game that featured just about every shot in the manual culminated in break point for Safina, which she converted for 3-2 to finally break the waning spirit of Kuznetsova.

Safina then fended off a crucial break point to hold, and when Kuznetsova failed to hold serve in the next game, the writing was on the wall as Safina duly held in the next after rallying from 0-30.