Dinara Safina again completed a remarkable comeback victory to beat Elena Dementieva and reach the French Open semis.
Second successive comeback for tough Russian.
Dinara Safina came from the brink of defeat to complete a remarkable comeback victory against Elena Dementieva to reach the French Open semi-finals.
The Russian was a set and 2-5 down against compatriot Dementieva, who served for the match, before hitting back in fabulous fashion to win 4-6 7-6 6-0.
The 13th seed suddenly hit untouchable form and rattled off 11 of the final 12 games of the match to storm into the last four at Roland Garros, where she will play Svetlana Kuznetsova for a place in the final.
Safina also pulled a result out of the fire against top seed Maria Sharapova in the last round, coming from the brink of defeat to dump out the world number one.
This time, Safina was a set down and 2-5 down in the second when Dementieva had the chance to serve for the match.
Comeback
Safina saved herself and then won the next four games against 2004 French Open runner-up Dementieva to edged ahead at 6-5.
Suddenly Dementieva had to hang on and she was forced to save three set points to force a tie-break, including one which lasted a sapping 29 shots.
Safina was well o n top now and levelled them match by taking the tie-breaker after missing two set points.
Dementieva had gone by now though and soon Safina had plundered her way into a 5-0 lead and, despite saving two match points, and third was converted to send Safina into her first Grand Slam semi-final in sensational style.
"At 2-5 down, I knew I had to change my game completely," said number 12 seed Safina.
"I thought I will give her the extra ball and I think she got confused.
"I was saying to her: 'OK, you have to hit the winner.'"
"I was almost out on match point. I have to play the semi-final on Thursday. Physically I should be fine. Sometimes practice is harder than a match and I'm only 22.
"If I am tired now, what will I be like when I'm 28."
