FRENCH OPEN WOMEN'S SEMI-FINALS:A FRACTION after Jelena Jankovic missed her first serve with Ana Ivanovic on match point, the younger of the two Serb players took two steps into the court from behind the baseline. She knew the Jankovic second serve. She also knew that if it arrived like so many of the Jankovic second serves it was toast.
And so yesterday's semi-final concluded, Jankovic sending the ball over surely but softly, Ivanovic waiting, her forehand on the hair trigger setting.
All Jankovic could do was flap at the returned ball on her forehand side and watch as the match and her Roland Garros hopes kicked on the clay wide and out of reach.
Twenty-year-old Ivanovic, who will now become the world number one in the Monday morning rankings, will meet 22-year-old Dinara Safina in tomorrow's final after the Russian defeated her compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2.
It was a pleasant change for Safina to advance so seamlessly, her previous two matches being heroic feats of recovery against Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva.
It will also be Safina's first Grand Slam final, and the third for Ivanovic.
For Jankovic, her semi-final will be seen as one where she dropped her serve too easily and too often and found herself involved in hitting matches with a hitter who was taller, stronger and more accurate.
But with the pressure to play the big points, there were many errors and the match could have fallen either way as the two players fought to get position on the ball and send the other scurrying side to side - Ivanovic with the heavier artillery and Jankovic the better athlete.
In the end muscle just won over movement as the two dropped serve with dismaying regularity.
There were no less than 12 service breaks over the three sets, Jankovic having raced to a 3-0 lead in the first as Ivanovic took her time stepping up to the pace. But the first set inversion was also an indicator of what was to come and Jankovic contrived to win just one game from the following seven, Ivanovic taking the set 6-4.
The second set was no different, Jankovic dropping her serve in the first game and trailing 1-3, then breaking Ivanovic twice, once at 5-3 down with Ivanovic serving for the match.
Jankovic then nervously served out to level the match.
"It was good to come back in the second set," said Jankovic.
"Sometimes you can't control the injuries and especially my arm. I had problems hitting the ball as hard as I could and she was the more powerful one.
"I was hitting it as I could but there was still not enough power out there. You could see with her forehand, she could hit it . . . my ball wasn't going anywhere."
Similarly Ivanovic dropped her serve in the opening game of the third set as Jankovic took a 3-1 lead as the two continued to dish up booming rallies, those of Ivanovic hurting more and also being more penetrating.
Three more exchanges of serve then left Jankovic to again step up and send down her deliveries to stay in the match at 4-5.
Finally her luck ran out, Ivanovic's put away on her second serve ending the match.
Expect to see nothing ditsy or genteel about the final.
Ivanovic may look fragrant in her peach attire but with Safina at the other end of court Philippe Chatrier, there will be a lot of shock waves.
"I felt that being two times out of the tournament and still be here . . . God kept me in this tournament so I said okay, now I'm not going to be passive anymore. I have to be aggressive because there will be no third chance," said Safina, whose size and power will match that of Ivanovic.
Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, didn't really turn up to work and was never in the game, which went in only one direction. Kuznetsova best summed it up herself.
"I wasn't comfortable out there. I couldn't serve. I couldn't play my forehand. I played probably one of my worst games against her."
There will be a new name on the trophy and if Ivanovic wins, she will be come the first Serbian woman to win at Roland Garros.
