This year at Roland Garros we will have an all-Serbian and an all-Russian semifinal. In the Russian semifinal Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova will meet each other.
World No.14 Safina moved into the final four with another remarkable comeback victory. The No.13 seed defeated countrywoman Elena Dementieva. Seventh-seeded Dementieva led 5-2 in the second set and looked set for victory when she reached match point at 5-4. But Safina fought back to triumph 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-0. This victory came just two days after she beat world number one Maria Sharapova in the fourth round in almost identical fashion.
Safina is turning out to be one of the greatest comeback artists on the Grand Slam stage. With the victory over Dementieva she has become the first woman since tennis turned professional in 1968 to have come from match point down in successive grand slam matches — winning both.
Fourth-seeded Kuznetsova struggled in the first set, trailing Estonian world No.49 Kaia Kanepi 4-2 and 40-0 in the next game, but eventually stepped up a gear and claimed a convincing 7-5 6-2 win.
World No.3 Kuznetsova has a 4-3 head-to-head record against Safina, while on clay that record is 3-2. Moreover, Kuznetsova won their last match, which was also on clay in Rome last year.
I was rooting for Dementieva. Real pity she had chances to close out the match but just didn’t take them.