Francesca Schiavone and Elena Dementieva will face off in the French Open semifinals after Schiavone defeated third seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-3 and Elena Dementieva won 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 against compatriot Nadia Petrova.
The first quarterfinal pitted the oldest player left in the draw against the youngest, with the 29-year-old Schiavone winning against the 19-year-old Wozniacki to become the first Italian Grand Slam women's semifinalist in the Open Era. "It's fantastic," Schiavone said in a courtside interview after the match. "After years and years that I work a lot, it's time to take some satisfaction.
"She's definitely a difficult player to play against because she plays with a lot of spin," said Wozniacki after the match. "She plays differently. She mixes up the balls a lot. She didn't play typical women's tennis."
Wozniacki, who managed to get the second set back on serve after going down an early break, had come into the tournament with an ankle problem but said she struggled more with an adductor problem during this match.
"I had some problems with the adductor from all the sliding on the clay," she said. "Hopefully now I can take a few days off and just get some rehab and get totally 100% done with everything before I come back on grass."
The all-Russian battle between Petrova and Dementieva began in strange fashion, with the players taking consecutive medical timeouts for leg problems at 3-2 in the first set and then warming up again in between rain showers.
"I think probably this is the most difficult performance since I played my first time to get to the semifinals," said Dementieva, who reached the final in 2004. "We were both struggling a little bit of injuries today."
Dementieva had struggled with a calf problem earlier in the tournament and played with her thigh taped during Tuesday's match.
Petrova, who won the first set easily but never regained the advantage after going down 2-0 in the second set, said she had been suffering from an adductor strain as well.
"My leg already start bothering me after the third round, after that long marathon I had against [Aravane ] Rezai," she said. "The weather was also not co-operative because it had been very cold, so I had to always keep it warm and keep it wrapped and try to play in the longer three-quarter pant[-leggings]."