Dinara Safina Makes Final

PARIS Thinner, mentally tougher and No. 1 in the rankings, Dinara Safina feels ready to win her first Grand Slam title.

The top-seeded Safina is half of the third all-Russian major championship match. She needs to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in Saturday's French Open final to claim one of the four biggest titles in tennis.

"It's one step easier because I'm already No. 1, so nobody can take it away from me," Safina said Friday, referring to her losses to Serena Williams in this year's Australian Open final and to Ana Ivanovic in the 2008 French Open final. "Just one more step I need to do."

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Dinara Safina cursed at herself in English, muttered to herself in Russian and generally carried on in much the same manner of older brother Marat Safin.

Safina’s face bears a striking resemblance to Safin’s, and she shares his broad shoulders, too. Both have been ranked No. 1 - the only brother-sister combo to do so - and now Safina is one victory from joining Safin as a Grand Slam champion.

Yearning to justify her ranking and live up to her bloodlines by winning a major title, the top-seeded Safina overcame a poor start yesterday and held her temper in check enough to beat No. 20 Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-3 and reach a second consecutive French Open final.

“I’m trying to control my emotions,” Safina said. “I’m not playing my best, but still, it’s not easy to beat me.”

Not lately: Safina has won 20-of-21 matches since rising to No. 1 in April. The only woman to defeat her in that span, 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, will get another crack at Safina tomorrow in the third all-Russian major final in tennis history.

The seventh-seeded Kuznetsova seemed well on her way to an easy semifinal victory, but she stumbled a bit before getting past No. 30 Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.

“She’s going to be the favorite to win,” Kuznetsova said, looking toward her match with Safina. “She’s No. 1. She played an unbelievable season.”

Safina holds a 7-4 career edge on Kuznetsova, including a win in last year’s French Open semifinals.