The fifth seed, who was the losing finalist at Roland Garros in 2004, will play Italian 17th seed Francesca Schiavone for a place in Saturday’s final. Dementieva came out on top in a shambles of a match that was strewn with errors and mishits as both players struggled with leg injuries picked up earlier in the tournament. The tie lasted 2 hours 6 minutes, but at least 30 minutes of this were down to medical timeouts and delays to decide whether or not to send the players off due to the light rain that was falling.
“It was difficult to win against Nadia because we were both struggling with the conditions,” said Dementieva . “It’s not been an easy week for everyone so physically we were not at our best today. But it’s not about showing your best tennis, it’s about winning your matches.”
Petrova, who defeated Venus Williams in straight sets in the previous round, took the first set 6-2, but that was mainly due to the abysmal form of Dementieva, who showed all her old inconsistency on serve and failed to produce her usual rock steady ground-strokes. But as soon Dementieva steadied her nerves and her game at the start of the second set, Petrova looked a beaten and forlorn player, unable to chase after balls and push off her heavily-strapped left thigh.
Unfashionable finish
The 28-year-old Russian, who is seeking her first major Grand Slam win – this being her 46th attempt, levelled the set scores and quickly broke to lead 2-0 in the decider despite Petrova heading off for another medical timeout and change of dress. From then on in it was merely a question of whether or not Petrova would finish the match. That she eventually did, but it was Olympic champion Dementieva who powered through 6-0 to set up a decidedly winnable-looking tie against Schiavone against whom she has a winning 6-4 career record.
Petrova had strained her left thigh during her marathon third round tie against French hope Aravane Rezai, during which she saved three match points.
10 year wait
Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to reach a Grand Slam semi-final in the Open era, shrugging off a 10-year age gap to beat third seed Caroline Wozniacki at the French Open. In a battle between the oldest and youngest players left in the draw, the 29-year-old Schiavone defeated the highly-rated Danish teenager 6-2, 6-3 to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final in her 39th successive major and will now face Dementieva for a place in Saturday’s final.
Schiavone fell to her knees at the end of the match to kiss the red clay floor.
“I have been doing this job all of my life. It’s a very special emotion to reach the semi-finals especially when you work hard every morning, every afternoon,” said the Italian, who will enter the world’s top 10 next week.
Divine interventions
Rain interrupted play in the first two men’s quarter-finals at the French Open on Tuesday. The players came off at 5:35pm (1535 GMT) with the match between top seed and title-holder Roger Federer and Sweden’s Robin Soderling finely poised at 5-5 in the third with the set scores level at one all.
INJURY WOES
Russian rues
Petrova claimed that she carried forward an injury which hampered her movment.
“I was limited and not moving properly. I wasn’t able to chase the balls. I thought of retiring after dropping my serve at the start of the third set, but it’s so difficult to just give up like that.”
SAME DIFFERENCE
Italian variety
Wozniacki who had defeated Schiavone’s Fed Cup-winning teammate Flavia Pennetta, admitted there was a gulf in styles between the two Italians.
“Schiavone puts a lot of spin on the ball, she doesn’t play typical women’s tennis,” said the teenager who was a US Open finalist in 2009.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 2nd, 2010.
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