• French Open, Day Ten

Schiavone digs deep to reach last four

Francesca Schiavone was on the back foot for much of her match with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova but did enough to book a place in the semi-finals © PA Photos

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Francesca Schiavone produced a stirring comeback to beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 1-6 7-5 7-5 and remain on course to defend her French Open crown.

The 2010 champion was on the brink of crashing out of the tournament when, having lost the first set 6-1, she trailed 14th-seed Pavlyuchenkova 4-1 in the second.

The Italian rallied, however, finally establishing a foothold in the match just as her French Open campaign looked set to end prematurely. The third set could have gone either way but Pavlyuchenkova fell agonisingly short as Schiavone's will hauled her over the line.

Pavlyuchenkova started the match in ruthless fashion, breaking serve in the opening game before stretching her lead to 4-0. Schiavone managed to register a game but another break of serve proved fatal as she lost the first set with alarming ease.

Schiavone stared defeat in the face when falling 4-1 behind in the second but, with nothing to lose, played with freedom and slowly worked her way back into the contest. As her game reached new heights Pavlyuchenkova's appeared to implode and, after stealing the second set, the floodgates opened at the start of the decider - with Schiavone racing into a 3-0 lead.

Pavlyuchenkova continued to trade, however, and, despite her wilting fitness levels, managed to snatch a break of her own to get on the scoreboard.

In a see-saw set, five more breaks of serve followed as both players were hamstrung by a host of unforced errors, but it was Schiavone who held her nerve to advance to the last four.

"She played really well but maybe she has less experience than me. Today I think I used my 30 years," Schiavone said afterwards. "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."

Later in the day, home favourite Marion Bartoli booked her place in the semi-finals with a straight-sets victory over 13th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Eleventh seed Bartoli played the better of the two women when it matter most, clinching a first-set tie-break after both players had dropped their serve three times, before tightening up in the second set to take two breaks to her opponent's one and serve out for the match, 7-6(4) 6-4.

In a tight match on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Kuznetsova will perhaps rue the opportunities she spurned in the contest - as she trumped her opponent 27 winners to 20, but compiled 33 aces to Bartoli's 21.

Bartoli will now play Schiavone for a place in Saturday's final.

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