PARIS — She's No. 1, guaranteed to replace Maria Sharapova at the top of the women's rankings Monday, but that's not enough for Ana Ivanovic. She wants a Grand Slam title to complete her fantasy fortnight.

Russian vs. Russian in one semifinal. Serbian vs. Serbian in the other. And a combined three hours and 42 minutes of tennis yesterday left Ivanovic and surprise survivor Dinara Safina in the final of the women's French Open.

They'll take today off — when the men's semifinals will be played — then settle the championship tomorrow.

For Ivanovic, this is a second bite of a tournament many thought she could have won in 2007 before she nervously dissolved into a pudding, a 19-year-old overwhelmed by the occasion who lost badly to Justine Henin in the final.

For Safina, it's the culmination of weeks of hard work in an effort to finally exact the potential that she had left unexploited for years.

The two matches bore little resemblance to each other.

Ivanovic's 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over fellow Serbian Jelena Jankovic was filled with long, arduous rallies with both women using every quarter of the court and mixing low, zinging drives with deft drop shots and displaying great defense. It was high-quality tennis.

Safina's 6-3, 6-2 conquest of Svetlana Kuznetsova, meanwhile, was an artistic disaster. Or, as the favored Kuznetsova said, quite accurately: "It was pretty horrible." Only once did Kuznetsova, the sturdily built No. 4 player in the world, look as if she might reverse Safina's momentum. But when she had a major opportunity to turn the match in the crucial sixth game of the second set, she failed, and Safina seized a 4-2 lead and the final push she needed to win.

It was Safina's service returning that was the most important factor in her win.

"I really had to be aggressive with the return," she said. "Just always to keep her under pressure. I had it so much in my mind that whatever was coming I knew I had to hit and I was moving much more aggressively to the ball by having this already in my mind."

Four times Safina clubbed service returns for clean winners and many times more her returns were deep enough to give her early control of the points.

After being broken only three times in five matches, Kuznetsova saw her serve busted six times and three times at 15-40.

"I couldn't serve," she said. "I couldn't play my forehand. I was playing probably one of the worst games against her."

Kuznetsova has a reputation for freezing up at crucial times in big matches, though she insisted throughout the French Open those days are over, thanks to work she's done with a sports psychologist.

But, she said candidly, "I was too tight and she was too confident in her game."

Service returning also was a major factor in Ivanovic's win. The two Serbians played 29 games and there were 13 service breaks. They combined for 30 service break opportunities, all of which gave Ivanovic confidence that she could come back from an early third-set break.

"It was a match with lots of ups and downs," Ivanovic said. "Third set, I just had to put everything on the line being down 4-3 with the break. You know, I had to go for my shots because it was very long, the match, and a lot of long rallies.

"So, I had the feeling I had to step up a little bit more and, yeah, take a risk. I came up with some good shots."

Jankovic had played the tournament with a sore shoulder. It got so bad Sunday after her round of 16 win over Agnieszka Radwanska that she flew home to Belgrade to have her doctor administer therapy. It worked for the next match, but the arm began going a little dead in this semifinal.

"I had problems hitting the ball as hard as I could, and she was the more powerful," said Jankovic. "You could see with her forehand."

She was asked what her next move will be with the clay season over and she replied, in typically comical Jankovic style: "Kill myself."

Ivanovic, meanwhile, will begin planning for one more win.

"The other day someone asked me, 'Are you going to forget the final last year and play a different one?' But I don't want to forget it," Ivanovic said.

"It was a great learning experience. I learned a lot from Justine and the emotions I was feeling going on the court. So I really hope I can work hard on it and play differently this year."