PARIS(AP) This time, Svetlana Kuznetsova wasn't going to let Serena Williams get away.
Despite twisting an ankle and covering herself in red clay in the second set, the seventh-seeded Kuznetsova rallied to beat Williams in the quarterfinals of the French Open, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-5.
Quite the opposite from the same round at the Australian Open in January, when Kuznetsova again won the first set and blew a 5-3 lead in the second. That time, Williams went on to win the tournament.
It was same scenario,'' Kuznetsova said.I was pushing myself to fight, and still she was (a) break up. With her, it's a big difference. She started to serve great, and I'm very proud that I push myself and I could fight still for the third set.''
On Thursday, Kuznetsova will face Samantha Stosur of Australia, who reached her first Grand Slam semifinal by beating Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-1, 6-3.
After saving a set point in the first set, Kuznetsova led 4-2 serving in the second. As she was going for a ball, she turned her right ankle and fell to the court.
When she got up, the back of her clothes were covered in clay, and she even had dirt in her hair and smudged on her forehead. Kuznetsova was unsure at first whether she had hurt herself.
Thinking about it, I lost my serve, and she start(ed) to play better,'' the 2004 U.S. Open champion said.Yes, I missed my moments, but she also was playing good.''
It took a while for Kuznetsova to regain her footing, but later she could smile about the spill.
See the sand?'' she said at her postmatch news conference.I still have clay in my hair.''
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TALL HURDLE: One of Roger Federer's fans at Roland Garros is his next opponent, Juan Martin del Potro.
The 6-foot-6 Argentine advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal Wednesday and earned a shot at Federer by beating Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Del Potro is hoping whoever wins his match against Federer will go all the way.
Everybody wants Roger to win this tournament,'' del Potro said.If I can't win this tournament, I want to see, next Sunday, Roger with the trophy.''
The fifth-seeded del Potro has lost only one set through five matches and dominated against Robredo, even though he never felt comfortable.
I was very nervous all match, and I never managed to really get in the match because my legs were really tense,'' del Potro said.Maybe you couldn't see that from the outside, but I was pretty tense.''
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SEEING DOUBLES: With Serena Williams' loss, no Americans are left in singles at the French Open, but three U.S. players will compete in the mixed doubles final.
The all-American team of Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan, seeded No. 1, won its semifinal match Wednesday against Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas, 6-2, 6-2.
In the other semifinal, unseeded Vania King of the United States and Marcelo Melo of Brazil beat No. 4-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia and Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 tiebreaker.
The top-seeded women's doubles team of Huber and Cara Black of Zimbabwe lost to No. 3-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 in a semifinal match. The 12th-seeded duo of Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Elena Vesnina of Russia beat Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Peng Shuai of China, 6-3, 7-5 in the other semifinal.