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 Kuznet-sova in today’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. “Just one more step I need to do.”
Safina took over as the top-ranked player in April, and she has reached the final in the four tournaments she has played, all on clay. In her 21 matches since then, she has lost only once — to Kuznetsova.
She credits much of that rise to her coach, Zeljko Krajan.
“He had to start with everything from zero,” Safina said. “First, it was believe, and then I started to play better. And then I was overweight. He was like, ‘OK, now if you want to improve, you have to lose weight.’ So I lost my weight.
“He’s like, ‘OK, now the third part is mentally. In the tough moments you’re breaking down, so we have to improve.’ ”
Now, it’s time for a rematch against Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion who has been a friend since their days as juniors. They have met twice on clay this year, with Kuznetsova winning the title in Stuttgart, Germany, and Safina doing the same in Rome.
French Open
A look at the tournament on Friday:
Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 68 degrees.
Attendance: 16,890.
Men’s semifinals: No. 2 Roger Federer def. No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro 3-6, 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-4; No. 23 Robin Soderling def. No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4.
Stat of the day: 19 — The number of Grand Slam finals Federer has reached, tying Ivan Lendl’s career record.
Quote of the day: “I’ve played against him 20 times, so it’s always nice to play against somebody else.” — Federer, speaking about Rafael Nadal, who beat him in each of the past three French Open finals.
Women’s final today: No. 1 Dinara Safina vs. No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova. Safina is trying for her first Grand Slam title, Kuznetsova for her second.
Today’s forecast: Cloudy. High of 64 degrees.
Today’s TV: NBC, 7-10 a.m. MDT
