Wed Jun 4 11:53:08 2008

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Kuznetsova, Safina will meet in all-Russian French semi

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Paris, France (Sports Network) - A pair of Russians -- fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and 13th-seeded Dinara Safina -- were Wednesday's quarterfinal winners at the 2008 French Open.

The former Roland Garros runner-up Kuznetsova handled Kaia Kanepi 7-5, 6-2 in an hour-and-a-half on Court Lenglen, while the red-hot Safina ousted the former French Open finalist Dementieva 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0. Kuznetsova lost to Justine Henin in the 2006 final here, while the two-time Grand Slam runner-up Dementieva, seeded seventh this year, gave way to Anastasia Myskina the 2004 all-Russian title bout.

Kanepi, who once beat Kuznetsova in the junior French Open final, became the first-ever Estonian to play in a Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Dementieva blew a golden opportunity to reach the final four, leading 6-4, 5-2 against Safina, who wound up saving a match point on her way to coming back and capturing the second set on Day 11 here.

After Safina fought back to claim the second stanza, Dementieva folded in a bagel effort in the third. Dementieva buried herself under an avalanche of unforced errors after taking a seemingly comfortable lead in the second set on Court Chatrier.

Safina advanced on her third match point of the day after 2 hours, 36 minutes of see-saw tennis, as Dementieva finished with 47 errors and had her suspect serve broken on six occasions.

The surging Safina is riding a scorching 11-match winning streak, which includes a clay-court title in Berlin last month. She upset Dementieva in the final in Berlin, where she also stunned the reigning, at the time, world No. 1 Henin and former top-ranked star Serena Williams.

Safina shocked current world No. 1 Maria Sharapova in the fourth round here on Monday.

Kuznetsova will appear in her fourth career major semifinal (3-0), while Safina will compete in her first. Safina is the younger sister of men's two- time major titlist Marat Safin.

The three-time Grand Slam finalist Kuznetsova captured the U.S. Open back in 2004 and was last year's U.S. Open runner-up to Henin.

Kuznetsova is 4-3 lifetime against her fellow 22-year-old Safina, including a win in the 2006 French Open quarterfinals.

Thursday's other semifinal will be an all-Serbian affair between second-seeded Ana Ivanovic and third-seeded Jelena Jankovic.

Ivanovic, who will appear in her second straight French Open semifinal, was hammered by the former top-ranked Henin in last year's French Open finale and gave way to Sharapova in this year's Australian Open title bout.

The 20-year-old Ivanovic has reached at least the semifinals in four of her last five Grand Slam events, while Jankovic will appear in her fourth semifinal in her last seven Grand Slam tournaments, including two straight here at Roland Garros.

Ivanovic is 5-1 all-time versus the 23-year-old Jankovic, including a win this year on a hardcourt at Indian Wells and a 1-0 record on clay.

Either Ivanovic, Jankovic or Kuznetsova will become the new No. 1 next week, replacing Sharapova atop the women's rankings.