The 2008 women's final proved to be a tense affair with Serbia's Ana Ivanovic taking the initiative and dictating the tempo of play from the first game onwards when she broke Dinara Safina's service. After going down 4-1 in the first set Safina fought back hard could not prevent Ivanovic taking the set 6-4.

The second set carried on in similar style with Ivanovic breaking serve and the Russian constantly being frustrated by her opponent's greater mobility and inspirational backhand plays. At 4-2 and after double faulting twice Safina managed to hold on to serve in the protracted seventh game of the set, only to then witness Ivanovic bounce straight back to take the next game on serve (5-3).

In the final game Ivanovic broke serve once again to win the second set 6-3 and so claim her first ever Grand Slam, going one better than last year's losing finalist position. Poignantly the winner's cup was presented by outgoing champion Justine Henin, to the woman who has now taken over her mantle as the top women's player.



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