Ana Ivanovic Wins-2008 French Open Final

PARIS -- The world's newest Grand Slam winner is Ana Ivanovic, a Serbian from Belgrade who at age 5 saw Monica Seles on television and implored her parents to let her play.
Fifteen years later, before she even reached 21, Ivanovic climbed into the Roland Garros stands to celebrate her first French Open and first Grand Slam title, having weathered a thickly contested match with the Russian comer Dinara Safina to win 6-4, 6-3 today.
By doing so, Ivanovic broke through a slight barrier that had formed given her two previous appearances in Grand Slam finals, both of which ended in defeat, including her debut in the finals last year at Roland Garros when she went out as a hopeless bale of nerves against four-time champion Justine Henin.  Ana Ivanovic Wins 2008 French Open Final
In turn, Henin may have abetted Ivanovic's rise this year by suddenly retiring in the middle of May, just before the tournament she called "my garden" after mastering it for three years running. Instead, Henin turned up in white slacks and a rose-colored jacket to present the trophy to the same woman she humbled 12 months ago.
Ivanovic's first title vaults her to No. 1 in the world, although she would have inherited that spot next week even with a loss in the final. She appeared worthy against a player, Safina, who arrived in Paris ranked No. 14 but beat three top-10 opponents here, extending her recent run of booming form by making it six top-10 victims in the last month alone, counting a preparatory tournament in Berlin.
  Ana Ivanovic Wins-2008 French Open Final
Safina certainly showed some of the form that felled No. 1 Maria Sharapova, No. 8 Elena Dementieva and No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova on the path to the final, but she won fewer of the pivotal points against Ivanovic in a match full of deuces. More than Kuznetsova especially, Ivanovic simply answered Safina's power by materializing in the corners often to send back equal power. She hit 41 winners to Safina's 37 in a match of good quality.
Still, a question lingered as Safina served to stay in the match trailing 6-4, 5-3, because of what Safina had done on the way to the final. Against both Sharapova in the fourth round and Dementieva in the quarterfinals, Safina had lost first sets, trailed by 5-2 in second sets and faced match point at 5-3 in second sets before routing her foes in third sets.
As Safina, 22 and gracing her first Grand Slam final, bid to become the first woman to win one of the four major tournaments after facing a match point in more than one match along the way, Ivanovic simply proved steadier than previous opponents, and that seemed to fluster Safina. When finally she served to exhibit her knack for staying in matches here, her tank looked empty, she rifled two unforced errors long, and she lost the serve at love.

Ana Ivanovic Wins-2008 French Open Final
One last Ivanovic forehand crossed the court toward the doubles line and Safina lunged awkwardly at a reply with her own forehand. But as that ball dribbled away harmlessly, Ivanovic dropped her racket and put her face in her hands, becoming the second Serbian winner of a Grand Slam tournament this year, following her countryman Novak Djokovic's title in the Australian Open in January.

Source: latimes.com