Ivanovic, Safina make a stand

PARIS -- Such an uncommon volatility rattles the top of women’s tennis approaching the French Open final on Saturday that it wouldn’t be surprising to learn the No. 1 spot had been closed temporarily for renovations and the top-ranked player would occupy No. 2.

Ana Ivanovic, one of the French finalists, will reach No. 1 for the first time Monday.

Jelena Jankovic might have become No. 1 by winning her semifinal, and almost did but didn’t, and might have a hangover.

Svetlana Kuznetsova might have become No. 1 by winning the tournament but didn’t, and might well be forlorn.

Maria Sharapova held No. 1 for a cup of espresso but toppled. Justine Henin held No. 1 for 117 weeks of her life and held No. 1 in mid-May but abruptly retired.

And then Dinara Safina, the other French finalist, might become No. 1 one day and maybe should go ahead and claim it, given she has beaten six top-10 opponents in the last four weeks to become the game’s freshest star.

Freed from Henin’s semi-dominance, and with Venus and Serena Williams both awesome and spotty, everything’s blurry, everybody’s muddled, everybody’s feeling something that might well change in about 15 minutes.

“I’m very, very thrilled,” Ivanovic said after attaining No. 1 by winning the last three games to edge Jankovic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, in a worthy all-Serbian semifinal Thursday.

“Kill myself?” Jankovic said to much laughter when asked her plans after losing in a nightmarishly narrow way that could keep a person up nights. She confessed to having sobbed hard after the match, then said, “No, I will have some dinner and maybe get drunk or do something. I don’t know. What can make me feel better, huh?”

After looking pretty much like a champion for five rounds before a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Safina, Kuznetsova said, “Let me get over this one, because it’s not going to be easy.”

Then here comes Safina, who weathered one-set and 5-2 second-set deficits in the fourth round (Sharapova) and quarterfinals (Elena Dementieva), match points at 5-3 in both rounds, a 5-2 deficit in a second-set tiebreaker in the fourth round (Sharapova), and a mini-tantrum in the quarterfinals in which she swiped at the courtside geraniums.

Ranked No. 14, 22 years old, powerful but enigmatic, Safina began the Berlin clay-court tournament stop on May 11 with scant hint of the coming storm. Now, after beating Henin, Serena Williams and Dementieva to win there, and beating Sharapova, Dementieva and Kuznetsova here, she is on the verge of her first Grand Slam title.

Win this, and she’ll clinch the second set of sibling Grand Slam winners in the open era, and the first drawing sibling titlists from each gender. Her mercurial brother Marat Safin, now 28, won both the 2000 U.S. Open and the 2005 Australian Open.

Her sudden appearance in her first Grand Slam final epitomizes the sport’s volatility of the moment, and rewards improved fitness that still leaves her less mobile than most.

“So when I feel, like, light on the court, yes, I’m not the fastest, but I still can read the game,” she said. “I’m big, so I can still cover the court, so . . . “

So, why not move up? The way things are shaking in this sport, there’s room.

At the top will stand Ivanovic, but might have stood Jankovic. The two Serbians with the relationship that’s somewhat south of chummy played a semifinal of mind-bending turns to an appreciative French crowd. Each of their cheering sections had turns of boisterousness.

Twice during the second set, Jankovic entertained a corner of the Court Philippe Chatrier audience by mockingly impersonating Ivanovic’s chronic fist pump.

“This is just girls’ world,” Jankovic said. “I think in the men’s world it’s a little bit better, because they play a match and then they go drink beer [together] after it.”

Ivanovic looked headed for No. 1 when she led, 6-4, 3-1, and Jankovic looked headed for No. 1 when she won the next seven games to lead, 4-6, 6-3, 2-0. And nobody knew who’d be No. 1 when Jankovic led, 4-3, in the third set as the total points stood 84 for Ivanovic and 83 for Jankovic.

Ivanovic, blasting winners, demonstrating superior power, then won 12 of the last 18 points. On that mere stretch, the No. 1 ranking beckoned, in one of its least stable phases.

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TODAY’S MATCHES

Rafael Nadal, Spain (2) vs. Novak Djokovic, Serbia (3) -- It’s the match of the tournament so far, life force against life force, chutzpah against chutzpah, a guy who fills the room against a guy who fills the room.

Roger Federer, Switzerland (1) vs. Gael Monfils, France (59) -- Federer plays a road match against a 21-year-old gracing his first Grand Slam semifinal while Federer plays at least the semifinals for the 16th Slam in a row. There’s a favorite here.

-- Chuck Culpepper