WIMBLEDON, England — Dinara Safina reached her first Grand Slam final this month at the French Open. More than two weeks later, she has fulfilled her goal for the year.

Ranked No. 9, Safina has been advised by the Russian Tennis Federation that she can play singles for the Olympic team at Beijing in August.

The spot came open when No. 8-ranked Anna Chakvetadze decided to skip Beijing.

"I qualified in really the last, last moment," Safina said today after beating Chan Yung-jan 7-6 (8), 6-2 in the first round at Wimbledon.

"It was my goal from the beginning of the year. I really want to thank her (Chakvetadze) that she gives me a chance to go there. I was not on the team except for doubles, and I was not going to go there just for doubles."

Safina plans to play U.S. hard-court tournaments before flying to China.

Russia's excellent depth on the WTA Tour nearly kept Safina off the team. She's behind No. 2 Maria Sharapova, No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 5 Elena Dementieva and Chakvetadze in the rankings.

Safina, runner-up last week at the Wimbledon warmup tournament in the Netherlands, had been unhappy with her results this year until the past couple of months. Her fortunes started to turn when she won the French Open tuneup tournament in Berlin.

She followed that victory by beating three Olympic teammates — Sharapova, Dementieva and Kuznetsova — to reach the French Open final, where she lost to new No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-3.

"I put so much pressure to myself for the (Olympic) goal that I was traveling for almost three months and I couldn't find my game," Safina said. "Somehow in the last moment I qualified. I catch the last train."