Kuznetsova into French Open semi-finals

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia reached the French Open semi-finals on Wednesday with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

It was a tougher match than expected for Kuznetsova though as rank outsider Kanepi had her back-pedalling in the first set with the weight of her groundstrokes.

The fourth seed will play the winner of the all-Russian clash between Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva for a place in the final.

The last, and only time, the two had met was in the junior girls final here in 2001 when the Estonian won on her way to taking the world No.1 junior ranking.

They went different ways after that, Kuznetsova basing herself in Spain to further her career, while Kanepi elected to stay at home.

The Russian went on to win...