Victorious Schiavone achieves first for Italy

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-02 10:26

Victorious Schiavone achieves first for Italy

Francesca Schiavone of Italy celebrates after defeating Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, June 1, 2010. [Agencies]

PARIS - After Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to reach the French Open semifinals since 1954, she collapsed face down on center court and kissed the clay.

Schiavone upset No 3-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in Tuesday's quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-3. Seeded 17th, Schiavone is the first Italian woman to reach the semifinals at any Grand Slam tournament in the Open era, which began in 1968.

"It's an honor for me to play here," she said. "I played really well. I'm enjoying it so much."

Schiavone will face Elena Dementieva of Russia in the semifinals. Dementieva defeated compatriot Nadia Petrova 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 in a later match.

The 29-year-old Schiavone improved to 8-40 against players ranked in the top five.

She had been 0-3 in major quarterfinals and hadn't reached the final eight at Roland Garros since 2001. This time she made the most of her chance.

Schiavone won with steady, sometimes looping groundstrokes, limiting errors while mixing the pace to keep Wozniacki off-balance. Rallies sometimes became moonball exchanges reminiscent of the wooden-racquet era.

Schiavone played serve and volley to win the next-to-last point. After she slammed an overhead winner on her final shot, she leaped, raised her arms with a scream and lifted her racquet over her head in jubilation.

Schiavone broke serve six times, won 13 of 16 points when she reached the net and enjoyed a 25-10 edge in winners.

Francesca Schiavone of Italy kisses the ground on the Philippe Chatrier court after defeating Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, June 1, 2010. [Agencies]

Wozniacki, at 19, was the tournament's youngest quarterfinalist. She was playing in her second Grand Slam quarterfinal after reaching the US Open final last year.

Other women's quarterfinal cation on Wednesday sees No 1 Serena Williams play No 7 Sam Stosur, fresh off an upset over four-time champion Justine Henin 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. That ended Henin's streak of 24 consecutive victories at Roland Garros since her most recent defeat in 2004.

Williams beat No 18 Shahar Peer 6-2, 6-2.

No 4 Jelena Jankovic will next face unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova. Jankovic defeated No 23 Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2, and Shvedova became a Grand Slam quarterfinalist for the first time by beating wild card Jarmila Groth 6-4, 6-3.

Associated Press