DINARA SAFINA and Svetlana Kuznetsova will meet tomorrow in the French Open’s second all-Russian final after winning their respective lastfour matches in contrasting fashion yesterday.

While top seed Safina was a comfortable 6-3 6-3 winner over Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova in the first semifinal, seventh seed Kuznetsova survived a mid-match wobble to come through 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 against Australian doubles specialist Sam Stosur.

Safina, the world number one without a grand-slam title to her name, will start as favourite this weekend but Kuznetsova will also be confident having beaten her compatriot in the final of a claycourt tournament in Stuttgart last month.

That is Safina’s only defeat on the dirt in 2009.

Both players have lost finals here before, Kuznetsova to Justine Henin in 2006 and Safina to Ana Ivanovic last year.

Neither of the pair was at her best in rather forgettable semi-final matches, although Safina was arguably more impressive and her routine victory over Cibulkova, the pintsized 20th seed, means she has lost only one set en route to the final.

‘‘It obviously gives you much more confidence when you know you can still do much better,’’ said Safina, who was defeated by Serena Williams in this year’s first grand-slam tournament, the Australian Open.

‘‘But being under pressure and still winning in two sets, I’m really happy with myself.’’ Cibulkova, the conqueror of Maria Sharapova in the last eight, battled gamely in her first grand-slam semi-final appearance but did not have the power or variety in her game to seriously threaten the Russian.

She went 2-0 up in the first set but that was as good as it got.

Safina, 23, turned things around by winning four games on the trot for 4-2 and took the set at the fifth time of asking with an unreturnable cross-court forehand.

Cibulkova had the backing of the crowd but it could not inspire her as she was broken in the fifth and ninth games of the second set to slip to defeat.

‘‘I didn’t handle the situation,’’ said Cibulkova.

‘‘I got nervous, I made a couple of mistakes and then I got in a panic.

‘‘I felt fresh and I wanted to play good tennis, but today I didn’t make it mentally and with my tactics.’’ Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, needed three sets before seeing off second seed Serena Williams in the quarters and she blew hot and cold 24 hours later against 30th seed Stosur, who has won 22 doubles titles but is yet to claim any honours in singles.

The St Petersburg-born 23- year-old was 4-2 up in the second set and looked ready to clinch a straight-sets win when Stosur fought back.

And at 5-2 down in the tiebreak, the Australian reeled off five straight points to take the match into a decider.

Kuznetsova finished the stronger of the two, grabbing the decisive break in game six.

‘‘I’m a little tired because I’ve had two long matches in a row. But it’s all nerves and emotions – I’ll be fine,’’ she said.

‘‘She (Dinara) is going to be favourite. She’s the number one. She’s played an unbelievable season. I have nothing to lose out there.’’ Stosur, who was bidding to become the first Australian woman to make the French Open final since Wendy Turnbull in 1979, refused to be downcast after her defeat.

She even surprised herself with her run to the semis, coming only a year after returning to action following a lengthy spell out of tennis because of viral meningitis and Lyme disease.

During that period she was barely able to get out of bed, let alone play tennis.

‘‘You’re always disappointed to lose but there are so many positives I can take from this week and this match,’’ said the 25-year-old.

‘‘I just wanted to go out there and play well, and that’s what I did. I didn’t play one bad match.’’