Schiavone finally gets to the mountaintop

In a matchup of past French Open champions with similar, grind-it-out-at-the-baseline games, Francesca Schiavone knew she and Svetlana Kuznetsova would wind up playing for hours and hours.

They have done it before, once meeting in the longest Grand Slam women's match in history, and they did it again on Thursday. Schiavone saved a match point with an off-balance, down-the-line backhand winner before eventually pulling out a 6-7 (11), 7-5, 10-8 victory to reach the third round at Roland Garros after three hours, 50 minutes of loud exertion by both.

"It's like playing in a mirror," Schiavone said. "Against me, she plays that style. Against her, I play that style. Every time, it's like arm wrestling. If she wants to fight - and I want to fight - to the death, these are the things that happen."