Ana Ivanovic Roland Garros 2008 Champion

Posted in: Ana Ivanovic, Roland Garros, 2008, Champion, Tennis in alittleofeverything's Blog

Ana Ivanovic Roland Garros 2008 Champion

Ana Ivanovic is the French Open champion and the new world No. 1. The second-seeded Serbian captured her first Grand Slam title on Saturday with a 6-4, 6-3, win over No. 13 Dinara Safina of Russia in the final of the claycourt major.

The win caps a memorable week for the Ivanovic, who learned after her semifinal victory here Thursday that she will overtake Maria Sharapova as the WTA’s top player when the updated rankings are released Monday. This is the seventh title overall and second this season for Ivanovic, who takes home $1.57 million in prize money.

The 20-year-old had reached two previous Grand Slam finals, but lost both in straight sets. She was runner-up to former No. 1 Justine Henin here last year and lost to Sharapova at the Australian Open in January.

Safina, meanwhile, was in her maiden Grand Slam championship, having reached this point with consecutive upsets over the top-seeded Sharapova, No. 7 Elena Dementieva and fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. In her three-set victories over Sharapova and Dementieva, she was down 5-2 in the second set and survived a match point before emerging a winner. Safina’s older brother, Marat Safin, is a two-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1.

The pair would have become the only brother-sister combination in the Open era to have each won a major championship had Safina won. Admittedly troubled by nerves in last year’s championship match loss to Henin, Ivanovic appeared confident in the early going as she broke Safina in the opening game and again in the fifth to forge a 4-1 lead. Safina, however, displayed the grit that has gotten her to this point by securing consecutive breaks to knot things at 4-4.

Ivanovic responded with her third break of the match in ninth game and, after surviving a pair of break points in her next service game, closed out the first set with a strong forehand that forced an off-balance Safina to lift a return shot long. The second set turned in the third game when Ivanovic broke serve to forge a 2-1 lead.

Safina led 40-30 in the game, but Ivanovic forced deuce when she punctuated a long rally by chasing down a drop shot and chipping a cross-court winner almost parallel to the net. She covered her face with her hands when she clinched the match and climbed into the stands to celebrate with her family.

Yahoo Sports tennis - Here Photo credit should read PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images

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