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Tennis-New beginning for Safarova after Paris powershow

By Julien Pretot PARIS, June 6 (Reuters) - It took Lucie Safarova 40 attempts to contest a grand slam final but her French Open performance suggested the Czech should not have to wait too long before reaching that level again. Safarova appeared to be heading for a quick execution by world number one Serena Williams on Saturday but she fought back into contention only to lose 6-3 6-7(2) 6-2. En route to Saturday's final, the 13th seed had not dropped a set, using her firecracker forehand to crush the opposition which included twice champion Maria Sharapova and 2008 winner Ana Ivanovic. It was a different story against Williams, but she still managed to shake the American's confidence when she opened a 2-0 lead in the decider. "I'm proud that I fought back in the second set because it was looking like it will be an easy match. Serena was really strong out there. I just pushed myself to step up the level," Safarova, who made her grand slam debut at the 2005 French Open, told a news conference. "But when she won the serve on 2-1 she just stepped up her tennis again. She did some great shots to break me and started to play really strong. She just was playing better than me." Safarova's previous best performance at a major was reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2014 -- and on current form she with will be a force to be reckoned with when the grasscourt major begins on June 29. On a surface that favours the big servers, her sang froid could be decisive in tiebreaks -- she won all six she played in Paris this year. "You have moments where you're really on the roll and you just keep winning tiebreaks," the 28-year-old explained. "I feel better in the key situations, the important situations." Asked if she thought the French Open final appearance would elevate her status on the circuit, Safarova said: "I hope it's a nice problem. "I wish that will continue in the future tournaments, and I will do my best to play the great tennis that I played here. I hope this is just the beginning." Safarova will be playing the women's doubles final on Sunday with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands against Australian Casey Dellacqua and Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova. (Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Pritha Sarkar)