Based on the way she had been playing in the 2009 Australian Open, Dinara Safina figured to have a long day at the office in Thursday’s semifinal match against Vera Zvonareva.

The younger sister of Marat Safin–who, like her brother, is similarly prone to pronounced fluctuations in both temperament and on-court quality–didn’t look like the most ascendant player in women’s tennis over the course of her previous two matches. After an ugly fourth-round match against Alize Cornet, and a sluggish quarterfinal escape against 187th-ranked Jelena Dokic, Safina lost the form that had carried her to such considerable heights in the 2008 season. Alternately puzzled and perturbed by her decline, Safina lacked the confidence she gained the year before.

Hard work hasn’t been foreign to the life of the No. 3 seed, but effort–as laudable as it may be–has to be supplemented with poise and patience. Dedication and industriousness are virtues, but they have to be accompanied by swagger and self-belief in order to make a difference in the heat of battle. Dinara Safina labored long and hard to reach the top 5 of the WTA rankings, but a surprising absence of steadiness caused her big-hitting game to suffer in recent days. A few years ago, the notion of reaching a Grand Slam semifinal would have rated as a huge achievement for Safina; in 2009, the landscape looks appreciably different. Slam finals–and eventually, a major championship or two–are expected from the hard-hitting Russian. Losing in the final four, especially to a lower-seeded player such as Zvonareva, would have represented a backward step in a distinctly forward-moving career. The grubby and uneven form displayed in her previous two matches didn’t exactly inspire a belief that another slam final was on the horizon.

There was just one small but substantial piece of hope in the equation for last year’s French Open runner-up: As horribly as she had in fact played against Cornet and Dokic, Safina did win those two matches. She might have been horribly upset and markedly dissatisfied with her level of play, but the fundamental goal of a tennis match is to win it. As patchy and scratchy as her tennis in fact was, Safina remained alive in the women’s draw when the field narrowed to the semifinal round.

Carla Suarez Navarro might have overachieved relative to her abilities, and Dokic might have become the best story of the tournament, but as delightful as those two women proved to be during this fortnight in Melbourne, they didn’t progress as far as Safina. Following the classic tournament motto, “survive and advance,” Safina did well for a player in search of her very best form. Such a reality can provide great comfort in times when the tennis ball doesn’t explode off the racquet the way one wants. Winning matches–no matter how ugly–is always the best tonic.

As she prepared to face Zvonareva, an opponent who hadn’t lost a set in the tournament, Safina had to go to the well and rediscover a positive mindset. A fortunate semifinal appearance had to translate into mental liberation if Dinara Safina was to recapture the winning edge of a would-be champion.

After 105 minutes of baseline slugging that increased in quality as the match progressed, Safina could finally smile instead of cursing under her breath. For the first time in three matches, a post-match scene was marked by genuine celebration, and not the downcast expressions that followed the Dokic quarterfinal. The 22-year-old Safina steadied her game and her nerves to hit her way past Zvonareva, 6-3, 7-6 (4). The win puts Safina in Saturday night’s final against Serena Williams, the second Grand Slam championship match of her career.

This match–though close–was decided cleanly and clearly. Safina sprayed more errors than the seventh-seeded Zvonareva, but for all of her misfires, Safina also produced more winners than her defense-minded opponent, particularly in crucial situations when the match’s outcome hung in the balance.

After ripping off four straight games to steamroll to a relatively easy first set win, Safina emcountered tougher sledding in the second set, as Zvonareva elevated her level of play and gave Safina fewer short balls to hit. Tense rallies filled the latter stages of the second set, and after a few particularly spirited exchanges featuring deep hitting within a foot of the baseline, Zvonareva broke Safina to gain a 6-5 lead. With Safina breathing heavily after being outrun and outworked by her opponent, the prospect of a third set–and a war of attrition–loomed on the horizon. Safina might have enjoyed an advantage in terms of pure shotmaking power, but Zvonareva stood to benefit from an extended battle, even with the roof covering a comparatively cooler Rod Laver Arena.

Precisely when doubt could have oh-so-easily entered the picture, Safina made the kind of response that defines an elite competitor. The No. 3 player in the world made the most of her changeover, because a rested Safina proceeded to drill her very best backhands in the ensuing game, breaking Zvonareva at love in the process. Given a new path to victory in the second-set tiebreak, Safina wouldn’t relinquish her newfound momentum. Usually able to erase errors with even better replies, Safina overcame a double fault in the tiebreak by winning the final three points, the last one coming on a running, one-handed crosscourt forehand that landed on the right sideline. A focused finishing kick restored a winning aura to a player who had been scuffling since the previous weekend. After several days of merely getting by with below-average tennis, Safina entered a Grand Slam final in style.

Renewal and redemption now belong to Dinara Safina. The same player whose mood descended to the darkest depths in the past 100 hours has returned to the crisp ballstriking that marked a rise to the upper reaches of her sport. With one more display of precise power on Saturday, the Safina story will write its most glorious chapter, and fulfill the promise of a career that has now maintained a steady upward trajectory.