French Open

Semi-final result:

D SAFINA Rus v S KUZNETSOVA Rus

6-3 6-2

606: DEBATE Your thoughts on the action

By David Ornstein

1445: The world number 14 Dinara Safina upsets the odds to reach her first Grand Slam final. Svetlana Kuznetsova, ranked and seeded four, goes home empty handed.

The battle of Russia is now followed on Court Philippe Chatrier by the battle of Serbia, as Ana Ivanovic takes on Jelena Jankovic.

The winner, of course, will play Safina in the final, where a new French Open women's champion will be crowned.

SECOND SET:

Safina 6-2 Kuznetsova
The trainer is called to bandage up some grazes on Safa's knee and the change of ends. Meanwhile, new balls are taken. Sveta capitalises to beat Safa with a blistering forehand but Safa hits back with yet another forehand winners and then Sveta nets.

It's match point!!!

Sveta returns a wide serve but then shanks a forehand woefully wide. Safa screams and raises her arms aloft in disbelief. Sveta races to the locker room.

GAME SET AND MATCH (I don't know the French) SAFINA!

"I think Ornstein's fallen asleep."
Un-Bell-ievable on 606
Join the debate on 606

Oh how I'd love to be, Un-Bell-ievable. But I was wide awake watching a marathon of a game!

Safina 5-2 Kuznetsova
A career spent in her brother's shadow could be about to come to an end. Safa exploits more Sveta unforced errors to go 15-40 up. Sveta does well to shape a forehand winner past her junior (well, by a few months!) but Safa takes her second opportunity when Sveta hits the net...AGAIN.

Safa serving for the match now. Who would have thought it?

Safina 4-2 Kuznetsova
That was a massively crucial hold my people. A Sveta break there and she was well and truly back in contention. Safa drives a backhand into the tramlines to fall 0-30 but then Sveta puts one wide and two into the net to give Safa game point.

A rasping Safa backhand is called out to give Sveta deuce but the fourth seed nets once again. What's up with the girl today? Like a round of ammunition, Sveta lets rip one backhand after the next across court and then slices one down the line to rein Safa in.

That Safa forehand gives the girl from Moscow advantage. Sveta turns things around only to, yep you guessed it, put a forehand into the net. It's rallies galore and Sveta gains another break point but pulls her backhand wide.

Safa's sweating buckets and goes to collect her towel. It works because just as Sveta comes to the net, Safa passes here with probably the best backhand cross court I've seen all tournament. She finally closes out the game with another winner and is now two games from the final.

"Roger Federer looks like Quentin Tarantino. Does that count?"
Mike on 606 replying to 1250
Join the debate on 606

Safina 3-2 Kuznetsova
The first real lack of composure comes from Sveta, who goes long and then is given a warning for smashing the ball into the air. He anger isn't helped when she nets to go 0-30 down. It's Safa's turn to go long and then net to level things up at 30-30. Sveta's chance to wrap up the game ends when she goes long and then an awesome rally ends with Safa passing Sveta.

Fortune favours the brave as Sveta saves break point by unleashing a forehand down the line that clips the net cord and trickles over to Safa side of the court. But then the world number four goes long and nets to edge Safa closer to the final.

A massive fist-pump from Safa says it all. This is her match to lose.

Safina 2-2 Kuznetsova
Sveta is really struggling today. She earns 15-15 and then sends a routine forehand long. Safa follows up by lashing a forehand winner down the line, much to the crowd's delight. That was a really good hold from Safa.

"Does anyone know of any brother and sister winning Grand Slam singles titles?"
Sri Gutta on 606
Join the debate on 606

Safina 2-1 Kuznetsova
An ace wide past Safa's forehand takes Sveta to 40-0 and the 2004 US Open champion breezes through when Safa flicks a forehand into the tramlines.

Safina 1-1 Kuznetsova
Safina starts as she finished the last game, with a glorious winner. But Sveta keeps he nerve to see out the rally of the match with a smash to go 15-30 up. She does likewise to earn herself two break points but goes massively long with the first off Safa's serve and then wide with the second. Is there a better forehand in the women's game than Safina's?

Good angles from Sveta to send Safa wide before smashing her to gain break point. Safa doubles faults to bring her brilliant start to the second set grinding to a halt. She seemed to choke on her second serve there.

"Much as I like Kuznetsova I am plugging for Safina. She has been great! It is also so lovely to watch a match in which there is no great screeching noise from either player!!"
italeleonora on 606
Join the debate on 606

Safina 1-0 Kuznetsova
Points are exchanged as Sveta works her way to 30-15 but it is Safa who is exploiting the angles more and more. It seems like Sveta, not Safa, who has had two physically and emotionally draining matches in as many days.

Sveta goes long with a sliced backhand to give Safa break point but Safa, by no means for the first time today, goes long herself. Sveta nets to give Safa advantage and she breaks by thrashing Sveta's second serve down the line with a driven backhand.

Wow. Sveta will be mad with herself but the look in Safa's eyes says, 'This is my day'.

FIRST SET:

Safina 6-3 Kuznetsova
A lovely trio of forehands, the third of which sent Sveta the wrong way, take Safa to 15-0. Sveta battles back to 30-15 but a wonderful sliced backhand drop-shot from Safa takes us to 40-15 and set point. Safa shanks a forehand into the tramlines but then Sveta goes horribly wayward with a cross-court forehand and that's the set.

Safa deserved that. She has dominated the set and Sveta has some work to do. She'll need a Federer-esque comeback to prevent Safa reaching her maiden Grand Slam final in her maiden Grand Slam semi.

Safina 5-3 Kuznetsova
Just when it looked as though Sveta's game was coming together she falls 0-40 down on serve. Two unforced errors and a Safa winner put Safa in control. Sveta gets one point back but then nets to leave Safa serving for the set.

"Baghdatis reminds me of a guinea pig with his little whiskery face."
Join the debate on 606

"Ivanovic is a fox - does that count? I'll get my coat"
KK on 606 replying to 1250
Join the debate on 606

Safina 4-3 Kuznetsova
Sveta strikes first but Safa comes out on top with a beautiful cross-court double-handed backhand following the finest rally of the match. Safa goes wide with an acute-angled backhand and then Sveta shows her how it's done with a backhand winner. Safa goes long AGAIN as Sveta breaks back.

It's game on in set one!

Safina 4-2 Kuznetsova
That's more like it from Sveta. She's beginning to calm down and think now but is it too little too late for the first set? Sveta comes into the net twice after kicking serves wide and volleys easily past Safa. She races to 40-0 and, although a double fault and Safa winner allow her opponent back in, she manages to ease through as Safa goes long.

The crowd, which is beginning to grow on Chatrier since lunch, is pretty subdued if truth be told.

"Nadal is roadrunner."
firstserve replying to 1250 via text on 81111

Safina 4-1 Kuznetsova
Blimey, this girl (Safa) has some forehand. It has Sveta scrambling just to stay in contention for points and, when followed up with a sliced backhand, makes her unplayable. Unforced errors take the game to deuce but then that clever wide serve has Sveta playing into the net and the number four seed goes long as Safa hold to take control of the set.

Safina 3-1 Kuznetsova
Sveta's first double fault of the match takes Safa to 15-30 and how about this for a follow-up. She comes to the net to take 15-40 and then absolutely bludgeons a forehand winner down the line to break for the second successive time.

Surely she'll hold serve this time?

1328: Did you know it's women's day at Roland Garros today? White roses are being handed out.

Safina 2-1 Kuznetsova
It's break back time ladies and gentlemen. Unsurprisingly, Sveta doesn't take well to being broken in her first service game of a Grand Slam semi-final. She batters her way to 0-40 on the Safa serve and takes the game to 15 when Safa goes long. These two are still struggling to find their range.

Safina 2-0 Kuznetsova
Well, well, well. Safa's path to the semis has been characterised by stirring comebacks but this time it is she who is quickest out of the blocks. Perhaps she knows how much energy she has expended to date and so wants this match to be over and done with quickly.

Sveta nets and goes long to give Safa 0-40 and, although she wins one point back, Safa produces a stunning forehand winner for the day's first break.

Safina 1-0 Kuznetsova
Points are exchanged before Saf wallops a forehand that Sveta can only get the frame of her racket to and moves 30-15 ahead. A couple of double faults let Sveta back into the game but both players are struggling to find their rhythm and neither can close out the game.

Safa goes just long on the backhand to give Sveta break point but the 22-year-old Russian (wait a sec, they are both 22-year-old Russians) responds with yet more power and scrambles through what is a marathon game when Sveta goes long.

1311: The players are back in their seats taking in some last minutes liquids and we're about to get underway. Safa to serve first.

"Miroslav Mecir was known as the big cat because of his languid style. Mats Wilander always reminded me of a koala bear."
Stuart via text on 81111

1308: "Deux minutes" says the umpire.

"Rafa reminds me of a little puppy dog that won't sit still."
wickedboy4 on 606 replying to 1250
Join the debate on 606

1305: The players have made their way onto a pretty empty Court Philippe Chatrier - Sveta decked in midnight blue and Safa in electric blue. They have just started warming up.

"Jelena Jankovic reminds me of a Moomin - does that count?"
jeranberan on 606 replying to 1250
Join the debate on 606

Is a Moomin an animal?

1300: I'll backtrack on my earlier comments (see 1245) because Paris was enjoying sunshine and clear blue skies, but it seems to have clouded over.

Contesting her first Grand Slam semi-final, Safina says: "I must be aggressive because she likes to dominate her opponents."

Sveta is by a country mile the more experienced of the two and she is likely to feel much fresher given her comfortable passage to this point. But Safina has real fighting spirit and her groundstrokes are as powerful as any we've seen so far at Garros.

1255: The 22-year-olds are meeting for the eighth time and Kuznetsova holds a 4-3 head-to-head advantage. Their five meetings on clay have brought three wins for Sveta, one of those being in the 2006 French Open quarter-finals, and two for Dinara.

Sveta, the 2006 runner-up, had a slight scare when she was broken in the first set of her last eight clash with Kaia Kanepi but otherwise it has been pretty straightforward and many are tipping her for the title.

With no Justine Henin, she has as good a chance as any of the remaining quartet.

1250: Safina, the sister of two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin, is one of the game's in-form players on clay this season.

She won the title in Berlin last month and then, en route to the Roland Garros semis, accounted for world number one Maria Sharapova and seventh seed Elena Dementieva.

Safina was a set, 4-5 and match point down against Dementieva before mounting an astonishing comeback, which prompted Kuznetsova to compare her to a cat.

"She has many lives, so I'll have to be careful," said the 2004 US Open winner.

Are there any other players on the men's or women's sides who remind you of animals?
Join the debate on 606
Or text 81111 and it would help me a treat if you wrote TENNIS before your message. Thanks!

1245: Under sunshine and clear blue skies in Paris, the French Open semi-finals are upon us.

For those of you eagerly anticipating Rafa Nadal's potentially titanic clash with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer's face off with Gael Monfils, you've only got to wait one more day.

And in the meantime let's tuck into some equally mouth-watering last-four action from the women's draw.

Most eyes are focusing on the battle of Serbia between Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, which my esteemed colleague Caroline Cheese bring to you later on.

But first up on Court Philippe Chatrier is the battle of Russia, as world number four Svetlana Kuznetsova takes on 13th seed Dinara Safina.