Ana Ivanovic wins first French Open title
Dinara Safina said she had simply
run out of steam after her first experience of a grand slam
final ended in a 6-4, 6-3 defeat by Serbian second seed Ana
Ivanovic on Saturday.
The Russian battled hard in the first set but eventually
faded in the second as Ivanovic took her first grand slam title.
Safina, who had beaten three top-10 seeds, Maria Sharapova,
Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova and saved match point
in two of them on her way to the final, said fatigue had been a
key factor.
"I didn't have any more of that fire that I had in those
matches," Safina told reporters. "I was just, I think, tired,
mental and physically.
"Even though I wanted to, my heart couldn't and my body
couldn't do it anymore.
French Open coverage
"If I had been just a little bit fresher, it would have been
different, because I spent way too many hours for those two
matches against Maria and Elena, because comebacks always take
so much heart and mental strength."
Safina fought back from 4-1 down in the first set to level
at 4-4 but once Ivanovic had taken it, the Russian never looked
like recovering.
"With her, I had to be really aggressive," Safina said. "I
was just missing by just a little bit and of course, she was
much fresher. What I had to do to her, she was doing to me."
Despite the defeat, Safina, who is projected to equal her
career-high ranking of ninth when the new list is released on
Monday, said she now believed she belonged on the big stage.
"If somebody had told me before, after how bad a beginning
of the season I had, that I would be winning a Tier 1 tournament
and being in the final of a grand slam, I'd say, 'God, are you
kidding? What you talking about?,'" Safina said.
"Now I have been in the final, so I just want to take all
the experience that I had and just to even work harder. Because
now I believe in everything, so I just want to be a
perfectionist and to keep going."
Safina's one other regret was that her brother, twice grand
slam winner Marat Safin, had not been in the stands to support
her.
"He was not here. Somehow I thought that he might come, but
unfortunately he didn't," she said.
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