Lucie Safarova edges out Ana Ivanovic to reach maiden Grand Slam final

Lucie Safarova has advanced into her first ever Grand Slam singles final after beating Ana Ivanovic in this afternoon's French Open semi-final.

The Czech, who won the Australian Open with doubles partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands in February, looks to have developed a taste for the big stage after an assured victory to move into the showpiece.

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She edged out her Serbian counterpart in straight sets in just shy of two hours at Roland Garros to move one step away from a first major singles title.

Ivanovic got off to a fine start and moved halfway toward drawing first blood in the best-of-three clash by taking a commanding three-game lead.

Both players held serve for the following five games, but Safarova broke Ivanovic's service game twice to move 6-5 ahead, before emphatically serving out the first set.

Another break of serve in the third game of the second set followed as Safarova established a two-game cushion en route to a 5-3 lead.

However, the world number seven and 2008 champion proved her resilience by battling back to 5-4, before breaking Safarova's serve for the first time since the second game of the match to force parity.

Nevertheless, the world number 13 broke straight back to move 6-5 ahead, before sparing herself the anguish of a tiebreak by serving out the match.

Safarova will face one of Serena Williams or Timea Bacsinszky in the final.