Tonight:
4°c
Doubles specialist Sam Stosur clinched a place in the French Open semi-finals with a solid dismissal of teenager Sorana Cirstea.
The 25-year-old held her nerve best in a battle between two players making their debut in this stage of a grand slam to seal a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 victory.
Stosur, seeded 30, began inauspiciously with a double fault but was soon into her stride and raced to a 3-0 lead over her nervous-looking opponent.
A wayward crosscourt forehand from the 19-year-old gifted Stosur another break and the Australian then wrapped up the first set at the first time of asking.
World No41 Cirstea stunned fifth seed Jelena Jankovic last time out, having never previously made it past the second round of a major, but she was struggling badly in blustery conditions and could only get 33 per cent of her first serves in during the opening set. The Romanian improved in the second, holding comfortably in the opening game before failing to take any of four break points — her first of the match — in the next.
That looked like a costly let-off when Stosur immediately claimed the set's first break, and another soon followed.
Cirstea did get a break back but then conceded one of her own in what proved to be the final game of a one‑sided match.
Meanwhile, Dinara Safina goes into her semi-final tomorrow believing she will only be accepted as world No1 if she claims the title here.
Serena Williams leads a group of players who have been quietly critical of the Russian's position at the top of the rankings while yet to count a grand slam title among her achievements.
Safina faces Dominka Cibulkova for a place in Saturday's final after fighting back from a set down to beat Belarus teenager Victoria Azarenka yesterday. Although she admits cynics will view her as something of a pseudo-No1 until winning a major, Safina claims her stomach for the battle helps to justify her status.
“If I will not fight in the quarter-final of a grand slam and being No1 in the world, then obviously I'm not deserving this spot,” she said. “But I did fight. This issue about being No1 without winning a slam is something that I have to fight until I win, maybe here.
“My fight was enough but I hope from the next match that I will play completely different and I'll start to dominate from the first point.”
Cibulkova beat Safina to win the Hopman Cup in January and the latter wants now to redress the balance.
The Slovakian has only beaten one seed on her run to the semi-finals and Safina said: “That part of the draw was wide open, so she took her chances. She's playing good. I lost to her this year, so I want revenge.”
* Pat Cash might think twice before attempting to talk to Laura Robson again. The 1987 Wimbledon champion spotted her yesterday and aimed a distinctive Hey!' in her direction as a prelude to a chat only for Robson to ignore him completely — presumably failing to recognise him. To be fair, Robson was born in 1994 and was only three years old when Cash retired.
* Rookie Sorana Cirstea has already learned one of the golden rules of the game. When the 19-year-old, was asked — in a question definitely not staged by adidas PRs — about the role that brand has played in her career, she didn't let them down. “Adidas has this player development program which is unbelievable. They have done so much for me.” That should keep her in free gear for some time.
