Kuznetsova sees off Kanepi to set up a semi-final clash with Safina at Roland Garros

Kuznetsova progressed after a 7-5 6-2 win over unseeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi to set up a clash with Dinara Safina in the final four.  

The big-serving Kanepi gained the early advantage in the match on Suzanne Lenglen Court when she broke the number four seed to surge 4-2 ahead.  

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Smashing: Kuznetsova knocks down another winner

The 22-year-old then was just a point from going 5-2 up before Kuznetsova - the only grand slam winner left in the women's draw - fought back to level the set at 5-5.  

The Russian claimed a crucial break in the 11th game as Kanepi netted trying to save her serve, while Kuznetsova held it together in the next game, serving to love to take the opener.  

The second set was a more one-sided affair as Kanepi's inexperience at this level began to show and the errors became more frequent.  

Kuznetsova claimed the breaks in the second set to power 5-2 ahead, and when match point arrived the 2004 US Open champion showed her class by winning with a glorious forehand winner down the line.

Safina came back from the brink in her quarter-final against Elena Dementieva to reach the last four of a grand slam for the first time.

The 22-year-old Safina found herself a set and 5-2 down at one stage but mounted a typically gutsy fightback to turn the match on its head and claim a hugely entertaining 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-0 win.

Three-set triumphs are becoming something of a party piece for the 13th-seeded
Russian, who was also a set and 5-2 down against top seed Maria Sharapova in the
previous round before powering into the last eight.

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Fightback: Safina had to dig deep

Safina, the sister of two-time grand slam winner Marat Safin, came into the French Open on the back of her best career win at the German Open last month and has had to draw on every ounce of self-belief that title gave her to reach the semi-finals.

Safina had won all her previous clay encounters against compatriot Dementieva
but it was the seventh seed who stole the early march, defending two break points in the fifth game before breaking for 5-4 and serving out for the first set with ease.

Dementieva was giving Safina the runaround with a number of well-placed baseline groundstrokes and appeared to be cantering into the last four as she streaked to a 5-2 lead in the second.

Safina looked all but dead and buried as she haemorrhaged points with a raft of
unforced errors, but Dementieva failed to draw strength from her opponent's struggles and became jittery as she tried to serve out the match.

First Safina broke for 5-3 and then when Dementieva brought up break and match
point in the next game, her opponent again turned the tables to hold.

Another break in the next game finally swung the psychological edge in Safina's favour, and there was only ever going to be one winner as the set went to a
tie-break.

With Dementieva's morale shattered, the deciding set was a cruise for Safina, who broke three times to whitewash her opponent.