Nadal and Ana are Mr. & Mrs of the Roland Garros

Paris: Rafael Nadal produced a flawless exhibition of claycourt tennis to demolish world No 1 Roger Federer 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 on Sunday and win his fourth straight French Open title. The Spaniard was at his relentless best as he tore Federer apart in one hour, 48 minutes to deny the Swiss a career Grand Slam. By doing so, the Spaniard equalled Bjorn Borg’s feat of four consecutive titles at Roland Garros. The Swiss raised himself in the second set and had a break point at 3-3, but Nadal slammed the door shut and crushed a hapless Federer in the third to clinch the title without losing a set. The shattering defeat for the Swiss star meant that he has now lost 11 times in 17 meetings with the 22-year-old Spaniard and nine times out of 10 on clay. The Spaniard also topped the winners tally, hitting 46 to Federer’s 31 leaving the Swiss to admit that his rival, who didn’t drop a set in the entire tournament, is getting better all the time.

Ana claimed her maiden grand slam

Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic won the French Open on Saturday, her first Grand Slam title,by ending Dinara Safina’s heroic run to the final and crowning her elevation to the world number one spot in style. Ivanovic won 6-4, 6-3 as Russian 13th seed Safina saw her hopes of joining big brother Marat as a Grand Slam champion dashed. For the second seeded pin-up, it was third time lucky after she had lost both her previous major finals - to Justine Henin here 12 months ago and Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open in January. The Russian, who had spent two more hours than Ivanovic getting to the title match, endured a nerve-wracking start to the final being broken twice to quickly slip 1-4 down before fighting back to 4-4 with two breaks of her own. A year ago, Ivanovic suffered numbing stagefright on her Grand Slam final debut winning just three games against fourtime winner Henin. With the recently-retired world number one now looking on from the VIP enclosure on Court Philippe Chatrier, Ivanovic stopped the rot to break back to lead 5-4. The 20-year-old wasted a first set point but wrapped up the opener after 45 minutes when Safina, pinned behind the baseline, slapped a backhand high and long. Ivanovic, finding depth and power with her confident, accurate groundstrokes, broke a lacklustre Safina again to take a 2-1 lead in the second set which became 3-1 thanks to a love service game. She held another shaky service to lead 4-2 while Safina overcame her fourth and fifth double faults of the match to hold in the seventh game. But the battling Russian finally ran out of steam in the ninth game when she handed her opponent three match points with the title gratefully gobbled up when an Ivanovic return died at her feet after 1hr 38mins on court.

Ivanovic to meet Safina in French Open final

Paris: Second seed Ana Ivanovic won the battle of the Serbs in a thrilling French Open semifinal on Thursday and will play Russia’s Dinara Safina for the title on Saturday. Ivanovic also clinched the World No. 1 ranking. The 20-year-old Ivanovic defeated 23-yearold Jelena Jankovic 6-4 3-6 6-4 to reach the final at Roland Garros for the second straight year having lost to Justine Henin in last year’s final. She also reached the Australian Open final in January but lost to Maria Sharapova. For third-seeded Jankovic it was the fourth time she had played in a Grand Slam semifinal and the fourth time she had failed to make it through. The 13th seeded Safina had earlier defeated compatriot and fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-2 in the first of the semifinals. In stark contrast to the first few games, Ivanovic was looking comfortable on her serve while it was a struggle each time for her opponent on hers. But all that changed in the sixth game of the set when Ivanovic inexplicably let slip a 40-0 lead to allow Jankovic to draw level at 3-3. She was broken again two games later and Jankovic served out to level the scores although she needed four set points to do so. Ivanovic had nervily lost her way and against one of the grittiest players on the women’s circuit that was a fatal mistake. Jankovic won the first two games of the deciding set to make it seven games in a row, but Ivanovic stopped the rot and got back on level terms at 3-3 by breaking to love in the sixth game. Another exchange of service breaks took it to 4-4 and two games later Ivanovic played her best game of the semifinal opening up with her groundstrokes to clinch the win.

Serbian duo reign at pacific life open

Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic delivered a sparkling Serbian double on Sunday, their convincing victories at the Pacific Life Open reaffirming their nation’s arrival on the tennis map. Djokovic, the third-ranked player in the world, had already become a national hero with his triumph at the Australian Open, where Ivanovic finished runner-up in her second Grand Slam final. On Sunday, third-seeded Djokovic downed unseeded American Mardy Fish 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 to win the first of the prestigious ATP Masters Series events of the year. Ivanovic, the top seed in the WTA portion of the 5.7 milliondollar tournament, defeated second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3 to lift the women’s trophy. For good measure, thirdseeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic made it to the women’s semi-finals, and Nenad Zimonjic was a doubles finalist. One wag quipped that Indian Wells should be renamed Serbian Wells. “This is something I think that we absolutely deserve,” Djokovic said. “We’ve been working very hard to throughout all of our lives, and this is just a crown for our work, and it’s paying off.” He said he hoped his success and that of his compatriots on the tennis courts would buoy a country that is now in some turmoil. “Considering the fact that our country is in a very difficult position, they are struggling economically and in politics as well, I just try to help my country as much as I can,” said Djokovic, who said he didn’t want to comment on the “Kosovo is Serbia” banner displayed by some fans in an upper deck of the stadium seats. The black banner was on view during Ivanovic’s match but had been taken down for Djokovic’s - at the request of tournament organizers. Kosovo’s ethnic Albaniandominated parliament unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on February 17. Most Serbs consider the southern territory the cradle of their nation’s history, culture and religion. Ivanovic, 20, said: “I don’t know much about politics, and I don’t get involved in that area,” she said. “You know, when I’m out here playing, I just want to represent my country in the best possible way. “Whatever’s happening, you know, it’s tough, but still, it’s very hard for me to say anything about it.”