PARIS, (Reuters) – A new name will be engraved on the Suzanne Lenglen Cup after a courageous Svetlana Kuznetsova exacted sweet revenge on Serena Williams to reach the French Open semi-finals yesterday.
Williams had been the last former champion left standing at Roland Garros and Kuznetsova, who rolled her ankle midway through the second set, handed the American second seed a 7-6 5-7 7-5 defeat.
The Russian world number seven will face doubles specialist Samantha Stosur after the Australian expelled Romanian high school student Sorana Cirstea with a 6-1 6-3 victory to reach her first major semi-final.
The other semi-final will be contested between world number one Dinara Safina and Slovak 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova who booked their places on Tuesday.
Kuznetsova had suffered two successive three-set losses to Williams over the past year and seemed poised to end that run when she led by a set, 4-2 and 40-30.
But chasing after a Williams shot, she turned her ankle awkwardly and collapsed behind the baseline wincing in pain. As Williams looked over concerned from the other side of the net, the Russian picked herself up, covered from head to shoe in red clay.
The Russian quickly dusted herself down and then jumped on her ankle to prove that she could not be knocked out that easily.
Although she dropped her serve immediately and allowed Williams to level the match with an ace, she never allowed the American to find her comfort zone.
Even when the 10-times grand slam champion had streaked into a 3-1 lead in the decider, Kuznetsova kept snapping at her heels and pulled level two games later.
Kuznetsova piled on the agony when she earned two match points on the Williams serve in the 10th game but fluffed both with forehand errors. There would be no respite two games later.
“In the third I had an opportunity and I got really tight, and I pretty much gave it to her,” said the 2002 champion, who had a 5-1 record over Kuznetsova going into the match.
Romania’s Cirstea had to play truant from school to take part in the French Open but will no longer have an excuse to stay away when Stosur finally ended her dream run.
The 19-year-old, a grand slam quarter-final debutante like her opponent, seemed more daunted by the occasion than Stosur, who is six years her senior and has won 22 doubles titles including the 2006 French Open and 2005 U.S. Open.
She knocked out fifth seed Jelena Jankovic in the previous round but could barely offer any resistance as Stosur ran her ragged and dished out some harsh claycourt lessons on Suzanne Lenglen Court.
