Francesca Schiavone fought back from a set down to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and reach the last four of the French Open.
Italian comes back from the brink to beat Pavlyuchenkova
Defending champion Francesca Schiavone fought back from a set and a break down to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and reach the semi-finals of the French Open.
Schiavone won only one game in the first set before going 4-1 down in the second, but eventually turned the match around to claim a 1-6 7-5 7-5 victory.
The Italian toiled early on in cool and windy conditions at Roland Garros, with Pavlyuchenkova swiftly winning the first four games of the opening set.
Although Schiavone did eventually manage to hold serve once, she was broken three times as her 19-year-old opponent moved into a one-set lead after 27 minutes.
Schiavone was more competitive against the Russian's serve at the start of the second but could not force a break and ended up dropping her own serve instead.
An upset seemed imminent when Pavlyuchenkova moved 4-1 ahead but the fifth seed finally hit back with her first break of the match in game seven.
Decisive
She then secured a second and decisive break in the 11th game after two wonderful single-handed backhands before serving out the set.
Schiavone surged into a 3-0 lead in the decider and although the number 14 seed got a game on the board, the contest seemed all but over at 5-1.
However, Pavlyuchenkova fought back to 5-5 with two easy breaks before faltering and dropping serve again, with Schiavone this time able to capitalise and complete the comeback win.
"The more I play, the better I play. That's always been the case. I started much too slowly. But by the end I felt much better and I could play better tennis," Schiavone said.
"She played really well but maybe she has less experience than me. Today I think I used my 30 years."
She added: "I love tennis when I can express myself. I am transparent, so you can understand how I play and how I feel. Maybe I shouldn't show so much. I am like this on the court and off it.
"I was 6-1 4-1 down and I was saying, 'Francie, this is the way things go. Today it is like this. Keep going'. I was really sad inside, but what can you do? Nobody could change things except me."
Bartoli through
Schiavone will play home favourite Marion Bartoli in the last four after the former Wimbledon finalist claimed a 7-6 6-4 victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Bartoli becomes the first Frenchwoman to reach the last four at Roland Garros since Mary Pierce in 2005.
Neither player managed to establish their serve in the first set, with each player being broken three times before the 13th send clinched it in a tie-break.
Bartoli then raced to the brink of victory as two breaks of serve put her 5-2 up in the second set, but Kuznetsova managed to hit back with a break of her own.
It was too late for the 2009 champion to mount a comeback, however, as Bartoli eventually served out the match in the 10th game.
