Lucie Safarova has advanced into her first ever Grand Slam singles final after beating Ana Ivanovic in this afternoon's French Open semi-final.
The Czech, who won the Australian Open with doubles partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands in February, looks to have developed a taste for the big stage after an assured victory to move into the showpiece.
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She edged out her Serbian counterpart in straight sets in just shy of two hours at Roland Garros to move one step away from a first major singles title.
Ivanovic got off to a fine start and moved halfway toward drawing first blood in the best-of-three clash by taking a commanding three-game lead.
Both players held serve for the following five games, but Safarova broke Ivanovic's service game twice to move 6-5 ahead, before emphatically serving out the first set.
Another break of serve in the third game of the second set followed as Safarova established a two-game cushion en route to a 5-3 lead.
However, the world number seven and 2008 champion proved her resilience by battling back to 5-4, before breaking Safarova's serve for the first time since the second game of the match to force parity.
Nevertheless, the world number 13 broke straight back to move 6-5 ahead, before sparing herself the anguish of a tiebreak by serving out the match.
Safarova will face one of Serena Williams or Timea Bacsinszky in the final.
Shane Callaghan
