Russians renew rivalry in final
PARIS — The all-Russian women's final at the French Open renews a rivalry dating back a decade, and Svetlana Kuznetsova hopes to fare better than the first time she faced Dinara Safina.
They were juniors then — Kuznetsova from St. Petersburg, Safina from Moscow, both with athletic bloodlines.
"I was like 12 or 13, and Dinara was an unbelievable girl," Kuznetsova said. "She's one year younger than me. I had no chance playing against her. I remember I lose to her 6-1, 6-love or something."
They've played each other many times since, and Kuznetsova leads 7-4 in tour-level matches. Saturday's showdown will be the biggest yet, with a Grand Slam title at stake.
It would be the first for Safina and the second for Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion.
"It's definitely going to be stress, definitely going to be emotion, definitely going to be business. Everything," the seventh-seeded Kuznetsova said.
They've been the best players on clay this year, meeting on the surface twice in finals last month. Safina beat Kuznetsova for the title at Stuttgart, Germany, then lost when they played in the final in Rome a week later.
Since climbing to the top of the rankings in April, Safina has reached the final in the four tournaments she has played, all on clay."She's going to be favorite to win," Kuznetsova said. "She's No. 1. She has played an unbelievable season."In Safina's 21 matches as the top-ranked player, she has lost only once — to Kuznetsova.The focus in today's men's semifinals was on No. 2 Roger Federer, bidding to complete a career Grand Slam and tie Pete Sampras' record of 14 major titles. Federer was to play No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro, and No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez was to meet No. 23 Robin Soderling.Kuznetsova is shorter and less powerful than Safina but plenty mobile. She is 16-3 this spring on clay, including a grueling win over Serena Williams in this week's quarterfinals and a semifinal victory Thursday against Samantha Stosur of Australia, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.Safina reached the Roland Garros final for the second consecutive year by beating Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3. In 2008 Safina was seeded 13th and lost the final to Ana Ivanovic.
