Svetlana Kuznetsova froze out Dinara Safina in an all-Russian French Open final, defeating the world number one 6-4 6-2 in 74 minutes.
So one-sided was the affair, on an unusually cold and damp day in Paris, that it barely came as a surprise when Safina bowed out with a double fault that bounced off the tape and fell wide.
Instead of rejoicing in her moment of triumph, a sympathetic Kuznetsova consoled her teary-eyed childhood friend by giving her a hug and a kiss across the net.
It was only then that the seventh seed raised her arms and thumped her heart to celebrate the fact that after five years she had won a second grand slam title to add to her 2004 success at the U.S. Open.
Safina, who has now finished runner-up in the season's opening two majors, will remain as world number one but that will come as scant consolation after she came so agonisingly close to ending her wait for a maiden grand slam crown.
The showdown had been expected to be a close affair because Safina had swept to a 20-1 record on clay before the final. That one loss was to Kuznetsova.
