Schiavone and Dementieva into semi-finals

Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals in the Open era on Tuesday, shrugging off a 10-year age gap to defeat Danish third seed Caroline Wozniacki and Russian Elena Dementieva outlasted her compatriot Nadia Petrova 2-6, 6-2, 6-0.

In a battle between the oldest and youngest players left in the draw, the 29-year-old Schiavone beat the highly-rated teenager 6-2, 6-3 to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final. She will naw face Elena Dementieva, the fifth seed and a losing finalist at Roland Garros in 2004.

Schiavone, one of the few women to still employ a one-handed backhand, settled quickly into the match despite the murky and damp Court Philippe Chatrier conditions, breaking in the fourth and eighth games and securing the set when she drew Wozniacki to the net with a sweet drop shot. As the Dane prodded the ball back, the wily Italian then unleashed a smooth backhand which Wozniacki could only watch as the ball darted past her.

Dementieva came out on top in a shambles of a match that was strewn with errors and mishits as both players struggled with leg injuries picked up earlier in the tournament.

The tie lasted 2 hours 6 minutes, but at least 30 minutes of this were down to medical timeouts and delays to decide whether or not to send the players off due to the light rain that was falling.

Petrova, who defeated Venus Williams in straight sets in the previous round, took the first set 6-2, but that was mainly due to the abysmal form of Dementieva, who showed all her old inconsistency on serve and failed to produce her usual rock steady groundstrokes. But as soon Dementieva steadied her nerves and her game at the start of the second set, Petrova looked a beaten and forlorn player, unable to chase after balls and push off her heavily-strapped left thigh.

Olympic champion Dementieva powered through 6-0 in the third set to a decidedly winnable-looking tie against Schiavone against whom she has a winning 6-4 career record.