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Tennis News :: Top seed Safina into French Open semi-finals - Sharapova beaten

Posted on 2009-06-02 by Gooner

Top seed Dinara Safina will play Dominika Cibulkova in the sem-finals of the French Open after the pair enjoyed contrasting victories on Tuesday.

Dinara Safina had to come from a set down to beat Victoria Azarenka, after being outplayed in the opening set but recovering to post a 1-6 6-4 6-2 victory.

Azarenka, the champion in Miami earlier this season, came flying out of the blocks and broke serve in the opening game.

What followed was a near-perfect set from the Belarusian. She out-hit the powerful Safina, pulling her around the court and making her lack of pace tell.

The set was over in just 23 minutes and at that stage another Roland Garros shock looked firmly on the cards.

However, Safina is known for her fighting spirit - last year she won two matches at the French Open from match point down - and despite blowing a 4-1 lead in the second set to be pegged back to 4-4, she duly levelled the match.

Upon losing the set, Azarenka flung her racquet into the clay and everyone could tell the pendulum had swung.

It was no surprise to see Safina break Azarenka in the opening game of the decider and from there she pushed on to book her place in the last four.

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Dominika Cibulkova crushed former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova 6-0 6-2.

While the result may not have been the biggest shock - Sharapova only recently returned to action after a nine-month injury lay-off - the scoreline certainly was.

Sharapova will now have to wait at least another 12 months to capture the one Grand Slam title she has yet to claim.

Cibulkova progresses to her first Grand Slam semi-final and the 20-year-old says there is still room for improvement in her game.

Sourced From : SportingLife.com

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