Dinara Safina finally smashes cover-star jinx

World No1 Dinara Safina has broken a jinx as she stayed on course for her first grand slam title by reaching the final of the French Open.

The Russian arrived at Roland Garros for her clash with Dominika Cibulkova to see she was on the front of the tournament's daily programme - a bad omen given that the 11 previous cover stars have lost on the same day.

However, Safina avoided that fate as she beat the Slovakian 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 41 minutes.

Cibulkova, the diminutive 20th seed who eliminated Maria Sharapova in the last eight, battled gamely in her first grand-slam semi-final but did not have the power to seriously threaten her opponent.

Safina fought back after losing her opening service game and admitted: "I struggled at the start. I was tense because I wanted to win so badly. Instead of dominating from the first point, I waited until Cibulkova started to dominate to start playing. I must change that."

Safina reached last year's final only to lose out to Ana Ivanovic and she also came out second best to Serena Williams in the climax to this season's Australian Open.

Victory on Saturday would silence the critics who say she does not deserve her No1 status without winning one of the majors.

Safina added: "It's getting closer to the end and I really want to win it. I am more and more tense. I want to give everything I have inside myself."