Safina vs Kuznetsova in all-Russian final

World number one Dinara Safina moved one step closer to a maiden grand slam title yesterday as she reached the French Open final with a 6-3 6-3 error-strewn victory over Slovak Dominika Cibulkova.

The Russian, a finalist at Roland Garros last year, set up a show down with compatriot Svetlana Kuz-netsova, the only player to have beaten her on clay this season.

Seventh seed Kuznetsova struggled past Australian 30th seed Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-7 6-3.

The 2004 US Open champion bagged a scrappy opening set after breaking decisively in the seventh game.

Kuznetsova, the Roland Garros 2006 runner-up, was forced to a tiebreak in the second set which her opponent took 7-6 after rallying from 5-2 down.

She snatched the decider's only break in the sixth game and held serve to seal the win on her first match point when Stosur netted a forehand.

Safina struggled to find her range with her forehand against 20th seed Cibulkova, but proved more efficient on the key points of the match, prevailing in most of the long rallies.

The 23-year-old, who like her brother Marat has a tendency to lose her temper, kept her composure during most of the match barring a couple of minor outbursts.

In a scrappy display she committed 24 unforced errors. However, Cibulkova did not seize her chances and failed to convert seven of her eight break opportunities.

Now, only one victory away from her first major title, Safina said she was getting nervous.

"It was not an easy match, I struggled at the start. But it was good enough to win in two sets," said the Russian, who has had a sore throat for two days.

"I was tense because I wanted to win so badly. Instead of dominating from the first point, I waited until (Cibulkova started to) dominate to start playing. I must change that."

Cibulkova said she simply panicked on Centre Court.

"I think I got nervous, I made a couple mistakes and then I got in a panic.

"I would say that from my side it was really nervous tennis. It was really tough to play today out there. I wanted to play good tennis, but today I didn't make it mentally or tactically," the 20-year-old said.

Safina wrapped it up on the Slovak's serve on her second match point as Cibulkova sent another backhand into the net.

Playing today

Men's SFs: Soderling vs Gonzalez; Federer vs Del Potro.