Lucie Safarova has vowed to focus on her game as she faces the formidable challenge of beating world number one Serena Williams in Saturday's French Open women's singles final.

Safarova, seeded 13th for the clay-court tournament, reached her first grand slam final with a victory over seventh seed Ana Ivanovic on Thursday.

The Czech has already knocked off defending champion Maria Sharapova in the fourth round, but a meeting with arguably the greatest female player of all time is an entirely different proposition, particularly with the battling form Williams has displayed.

Indeed, Williams has come from a set down in four of her matches this year at Roland Garros.

The 19-time grand slam champion produced remarkable fightbacks against Anna-Lena Friedsam, Victoria Azarenka and Sloane Stephens before overcoming illness to see off Timea Bacsinszky in the semi-finals.

Safarova said: "I just hope I can get better from here. I mean Serena is number one in the world, great player.

"I will just go there and play my game and obviously try and get the trophy."

That will likely be easier said than done against a player that has lost just four of the 23 previous grand slam finals she has competed in, although - with Williams conceding she has "some kind of flu" - Safarova can have reason for confidence.

Williams was in visible distress during her match with Bacsinszky and did not fulfil her media commitments after the contest as a result of her illness.

The American also skipped practice on Friday in an effort to aid her recovery ahead of the showpiece, which marks the first grand slam meeting between the pair.

Williams has a perfect 8-0 record against Safarova on tour and has only lost three sets to the world number 13 in those encounters.

Their two contests on clay both came at the Family Circle Cup and saw Williams claim an emphatic 6-0 6-1 win in 2012 and a 6-4 6-1 success in 2013.

But Safarova has made significant strides since those defeats and, with it still unclear whether Williams will be at 100 per cent, should have plenty of hope of pulling off the greatest triumph of her career.