(Sports Network) - Ana Ivanovic capped a week that saw her clinch an ascension to world No. 1 by rolling to her first career Grand Slam title in her third try with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Dinara Safina in the French Open final. The 20-year-old Serbian survived an early challenge from Safina, and rebounded to win going away on the court where she succumbed to recently retired Justine Henin in last year's final. Henin was on the court to present the trophy to Ivanovic, who will surpass Maria Sharapova on Monday for world No. 1, in the process becoming the first Serb, male or female, to hold the top spot.

"I feel so happy," Ivanovic said. "I have no words to describe that. Winning the Grand Slam is something I dreamt since I was a little kid, so achieving that goal, it's very thrilling."

Sharapova's short-lived stay at the top succeeded Henin, who surprisingly retired from the sport in May.

The second-seeded Ivanovic rolled to an early 4-1 edge, twice breaking Safina's serve in the process. The 13th-seeded Russian came roaring back, however, winning three straight games to draw even at 4-all.

Ivanovic rebounded to win the next two games, however, and take the first set. Safina, who was riding a 12-match winning streak entering her first career Grand Slam final, won the first point of the second set. Ivanovic recovered, however, winning the next three games.

"I'm just really proud about my efforts today," Ivanovic said. "It wasn't an easy match. She played really well, I thought. First set I had a double break, I believe, and she came back."

Safina's win streak included victories over reigning No. 1s, at the time, Sharapova and Henin and former top-ranked star Serena Williams. But she could not push the streak to lucky No. 13 and add Ivanovic to her list.

After the match, Safina blamed a part of the result on her fatigue from earlier in the tournament. She had to rally from a set down to beat Sharapova in the fourth round and did the same to fellow Russian Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals before waltzing past Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals.

"If I would have been just a little bit fresher it would be different, because I spent way too many hours for those two matches against Maria and Elena (Dementieva)," Safina said. "Two comebacks, because comebacks always takes so much heart and mentally."

This was the fourth meeting between the two with Ivanovic winning for the third time. Safina had won the only matchup on clay prior to Saturday.

Ivanovic collected just over $1.55 million for her first career Grand Slam win.



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