Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Dinara Safina 6-4 6-2 to win the French Open and secure her second grand slam title.
Russian wins her first French Open title
Svetlana Kuznetsova claimed the 2009 French Open title after a comfortable 6-4 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Dinara Safina.
The world number one and top seed lost a back-and-forth first set before being dominated in the second by the 2004 US Open champion.
Kuznetsova, who was runner-up at Roland Garros two years ago, overpowered her opponent as Safina collapsed amidst a string of unforced errors in the second set.
The 23-year-old wrapped up the match after Safina served a double-fault at championship point, ensuring that she left the French open as a beaten finalist for the second successive year.
Nerves
Kuznetsova, playing in her first grand slam final since the 2007 US Open, elected to serve first after winning the toss but was immediately made to regret her decision as Safina broke in the opening game.
However, the seventh seed hit back straight away with a break of her own as the two compatriots looked nervous in the opening exchanges.
Safina then dropped her serve at a crucial point when she failed to reach a Kuznetsova cross-court backhand that died quicker than she expected on the clay surface.
Serving for the set, Kuznetsova was broken to love as the nerves returned to her play. However, she recovered to make it three breaks of serve in a row, clinching the set with a fierce backhand winner.
Having fallen behind, Safina became frustrated with herself in the second set as her unforced error count increased at a rapid rate.
The world number one somehow survived unscathed until the sixth game when Kuznetsova grabbed the decisive break to move within two games of victory.
Nightmare
In the next game, Safina's nightmare continued as she hit three consecutive shots beyond the baseline before losing the match on her own serve.
The new champion paid tribute to her opponent afterwards, saying that her tennis is not at the level of Safina's, but she pulled out the victory by staying calm under pressure.
"Today, when I was coming out on court I knew that everything would be alright," Kuznetsova said. "I was pretty calmed down.
"(Safina) is better than me at the moment, she is the world number one, but she was too tight."
