23-YEAR-OLD Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame a long spell of personal doubts to reassert her potential by winning the French Open title on Saturday. Kuznetsova won in convincing style, defeating her compatriot Dinara Safina, 6-4, 6-2 in 74 minutes. The Russian's last Grand Slam title was the US Open, won five years back. Since then, though she has reached 21 finals, she has converted only six to tournament victories. Last year she came close to deciding that she would quit tennis altogether.

From the start, Kuznetsova showed she was equal to the match against Safina who held a head-to-head record of 8-5 against the eventual winner. After the exit of Serena Williams from the tournament, number one ranked Safina had been tipped to win this year's French Open. A visibly upset Safina, smashed her racquet after losing the last game that sealed her defeat.

Kuznetsova credited her resolution of mental turmoil to some advice given the men's top seed, Roger Federer. She had for some time been contemplating shifting her long-time base from Spain to her Russian motherland and she says it took a few words from Federer to help her decide. She revealed, “He said - 'Look you can only depend on yourself. You can control it. If you can concentrate and live in Moscow, do this.' “