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Safina crumbles as Kuznetsova wins in Paris

No. 7 seed beats No. 1 Safina in straight sets for second Slam victory

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Running through that list of setbacks, Kuznetsova noted one significant difference about Saturday.

"I was calm," she said. "It was similar feeling when I won the U.S. Open. I cannot explain it."

Her coach, Larisa Savchenko, surmised that maybe three difficult, three-set matches before the final - against No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska, then Williams, then No. 30 Samantha Stosur - helped settle down Kuznetsova.

"Really," Kuznetsova insisted after accepting the champion's trophy from six-time French Open winner Steffi Graf, "I didn't expect it to happen this year."

Safina was the one who was supposed to finally make her breakthrough after losing in the finals at last year's French Open and this year's Australian Open. Since rising to No. 1 in the rankings in April, Safina had won 20 of 21 matches, including 16 in a row.

The only woman to beat her in that span? Kuznetsova.

There are those - including Williams and Henin - who have wondered whether Safina deserves to be No. 1 if she hasn't won a major. Safina insisted the only pressure she felt came from within.

"I really wanted to win," she said. "I just didn't handle it."

About a decade ago, at age 12 or 13, Svetlana living in St. Petersburg, Dinara in Moscow, they first played each other. Dinara won in a rout. Svetlana's highlight was asking her opponent's older - and better-known - brother, Marat, for an autograph.

Oh, how far Kuznetsova's come.

"Didn't happen just by luck," she said. "To have two Grand Slam trophies - big, you know."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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