The smile has long been one of the most engaging in tennis but behind Ana Ivanovic’s outwardly picturesque elation at winning the French Open was surely the inner realisation that the most important reason for her finally becoming a Grand Slam champion was the fact her opponent’s nerves were even tighter and more restrictive than her own.

Twice previously in major finals, here at Roland Garros exactly a year ago and then again in Melbourne at January’s Australian Open, Ivanovic floundered embarrassingly as big match stage-fright rendered her frankly noncompetitive. Although Dinara Safina effectively put an end to Justine Henin’s career a month previously on her way to winning the German Open and last week again exposed Maria Sharapova’s limitations on clay, she still lacks the steadfastness of her two illustrious victims when there is silverware on offer.

The wait goes on for a French Open ladies final to truly legiti-mise the fact that Ivanovic’s winner’s cheque of €1m (approximately £800,000) for her 6-4 6-3 victory will be exactly the same as that waiting for the winner of this afternoon’s men’s final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Seven years have now passed since three sets were required to decide who would actually lift the Coupe de Suzanne Lenglen.

Oh for a truly classic battle like that waged on this same Parisian clay between Monica Seles and Steffi Graf 16 years ago or even Jennifer Capriati’s stoic win over Kim Clijsters in 2001 when the American prevailed 12-10 in the deciding set. Admittedly this offering was not quite so tepidly one-sided as Henin’s wins over Mary Pierce or Ivanovic last year but even the kindest of observers would struggle to call it a confrontation worthy of the prizes on offer.

Ultimately there was little debate that 20 year-old Ivanovic, who tomorrow morning will formally be declared the new world No 1, was the performer better acquitted to the task in hand. Neither played with the freedom they had shown in their path to the final, both were guilty of being tentative and struggling to find the sort of composure sufficient to produce their best. However the Serb’s experience of those two major finals greatly outweighed her Russian opponent who had never previously gone beyond the last eight of a Grand Slam event.

For Safina to go away with no sense of accomplishment would be wrong.

Any player who twice rallies from match point down and a 5-1 deficit in the second set to survive is a competitor with abundant supplies of fighting spirit. Unfortunately most of them seemed to have been previously exhausted and what remained was insufficient to overcome apprehension.

Perhaps it would have been better if big brother Marat Safin had made the journey back to Paris after all. Initially Dinara maintained his presence would have made her too tense but perhaps her memory of his nerveless destruction of Pete Sampras in the 2000 US Open final would have been sufficiently inspirational to banish any anxiety.

Safina came into the match on a 12-match winning streak after taking the title in Berlin but her resolve took a crushing blow in the initial game when a succession of unforced errors allowed Ivanovic an immediate break of serve. Looking the more accomplished performer despite being 18 months younger, the second seed pushed home her early dominance by moving to a 4-1 lead after registering another break of serve to love.

Brandishing a fist she shouted “Hadja” in her native tongue. The message was as clear as anything Lleyton Hewitt or Andy Murray can bellow in celebration of their achievement but in effect it finally sparked Safina into action. The Muscovite admitted the noisy support of Ivanovic’s support team and family grew ever more annoying but she did manage to use her anger to positive effect by fighting back to level terms.

Ivanovic was never truly dominant on her own serve, indeed she had to wait until late in the match to win a game without at some stage falling behind. But she again wrenched back superiority with some clever use of backhand slice, forgoing her normal double fisted style to stroke the ball using just her right hand. Critics of Ivanovic maintain she is not a player that uti-lises the angles, preferring instead to use forceful outright winners straight down the court but the more feel she got for the ball, the more risks she took and they paid dividends.

One piece of Ivanovic neurosis was laid to rest by winning her first set in a Grand Slam final as Safina scooped a groundstroke long after 45 minutes and the longer the match progressed, the better Ivanovic’s movement appeared. Strapping on her left ankle promoted concern over her durability but an elongated 26-stroke rally saw her confident enough to round off the point with a drop shot and from that moment on she was in control.

A spate of four double faults in the second set only served to heighten Safina’s discomfort and at one point she seemed so distraught that tears seemed close. She managed to maintain her composure and would have been heartened by finally holding serve in an extended game that required seven deuces but it was a brief stay of execution.

Ivanovic recorded her fifth and final service break of the afternoon to love, falling to her knees as Safina’s last forehand thudded into the net. The victor fell to her knees, buried her face in her hands before using the flimsy arm of a line-judge’s chair to climb through the Presidential Box and up to into the grand-stand to celebrate with her trainers and family.

The tennis world has a beautiful new Grand Slam champion. The amazing tennis state of Ser-bia has a heroine to stand alongside Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic. Those who promote women’s tennis have just the sort of photogenic icon on which to base a whole new marketing campaign. Those of us who wait patiently for a French Open ladies final to truly commend must wait with optimism for another year.