Kuznetsova romps to French Open crown

SVETLANA Kuznetsova romped to victory in the French Open final as the wait for a first Grand Slam victory goes on for world number one Dinara Safina.

RUSSIAN STAR: Svetlana Kuznetsova storms to victory at the French Open

The seventh seed overcame Russian compatriot Safina in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 and as the top seed floundered in her third Grand Slam final, Kuznetsova showed no signs of the nerves that she displayed in her shaky semi-final victory over Samantha Stosur.

The wait goes on for Safina, who lost to Serena Williams in the Australian Open earlier this year and was dismantled by Serbia's Ana Ivanovic at Roland Garros 12 months ago.

Kuznetsova on the other hand has finally brought an end to a four-and-a-half year wait for another Grand Slam victroy, having captured the US Open, aged just 18 in 2004, and was over the moon to put the final defeats in Paris in 2006 and Flushing Meadows a year later behind her.

"It's a really special moment for me," she said. "It's been a very long wait for me and this has always been my favourite tournament. I'm just so happy to finally get my hands on the trophy. 

"When I came on court today I knew everything would be alright. I felt just like I did at the US Open and knew I would win today."

The seventh seed displayed a variety in her shots that Safina hadn't been used to in her previous matches and the top seed struggled to find any rhythm throughout.

As Safina was grunting and groaning to bludgeon deep ground strokes, her opponent was quietly playing her own game, smartly breaking up play with drop shots and clinical net play.

And although Safina is one of the fittest players on the tour, she has never been the most fluid mover around the court and struggled to cope with some of the Kuznetsova's clever shots.

Safina's serve looked vulnerable in the early stages with the Russian throwing in four double faults in her first four service games.

The pair exchanged early breaks in the first two games but it wasn't until the eighth game where Kuznetsova broke again to claim a 5-3 lead that she began to exert her influence.

And although Safina broke straight back, the world number one's serve showed no signs of improvement and her opponent comfortably broke again to take the first set.

The second set started off with more of the same but the world number one started to show signs of finding her rhythm.

In contrast, Kuznetsova began to look nervous, rushing her shots and making more unforced errors.

But another weak service game from Safina gifted a break to her opponent and after Kuznetsova held serve to go 5-2, there was only one question - could she overcome her notorious inability to close out the big matches.

But the world number one failed to make her opponent serve for the game, ending the match with a double fault - a fitting reflection of her performance.

Serena Williams admitted last week that Safina is the best player in the world and, even after beating her today, Kuznetsova confirmed the same but the world number one's quest for a Grand Slam continues to elude her.

"She's a better player than me at the moment and that is why she's number one," she added. "I think she was just too tired today but she will be back."