Dinara Safina recovers from a set down to reach last four in Paris
• Top seed given tough test by teenage opponent
• Sharapova or Cibulkova await in semi-final
Top-seed Dinara Safina came from a set down to defeat Victoria Azarenka to reach the French Open semi-finals.
The Russian was given the runaround by her 19-year-old Belarussian opponent in the first set but recovered to lead 4-1 in the second, only for Azarenka to bring herself just two games from victory by levelling at 4-4.
However, Safina recovered her poise to eke out a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory on Philippe Chatrier court and will now play either Maria Sharapova or Dominika Cibulkova in the semi-finals.
Safina had dropped just five games in her run to the quarter-finals but ninth seed Azarenka, who had beaten the Russian at Indian Wells earlier this year, was not overawed and won the first set in just 23 minutes.
In her first grand-slam quarter-final, Azarenka broke to 15 in the very first game and went 4-1 up when she broke again in Safina’s third service game.
It was Safina’s turn to dominate in the second set where she broke her opponent in the third and fifth games but, after slamming her racquet down in disgust at 4-1 down, Azarenka fought back superbly to level at 4-4.
But Safina, 23, chasing a first grand-slam title, rallied again to break the teenager and then held her serve to take the set and bring the game level.
Azarenka then dropped serve in the first game of the third set and world No1 Safina finished the stronger to wrap up victory in an hour and 52 minutes.
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 June 2009 16.19 BST
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