PARIS, June 4: Dinara Safina staged another remarkable comeback to reach the semi-finals of the French Open with a 4-6, 7-6, 6-0 win over fellow Russian Elena Dementieva on Wednesday.

Two days after Marat Safin’s younger sister knocked out world number one Maria Sharapova in the fourth round, she knocked out seventh seed Dementieva in almost identical fashion.

In both matches, Safina was a set and 5-2 down before she broke, then saved a match point on her serve at 5-3, broke again, and then went on to take the ensuing tiebreak and finally rolled over her opponent.

“I think I changed my game completely at 5-2 (in the second set),” Safina said in a courtside interview.“I did not hit the ball anymore, it was like extra ball, extra ball and extra ball. She got confused because it was her who had to hit the winner.”

After surviving the two hour 36 minute-battle, the 13th seed will be hoping to keep alive her dreams of adding a third grand slam trophy to the family collection when she meets compatriot and fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last four.

Safina stepped on to Centre Court with a 3-0 record on red dirt against Dementieva, the last one in the German Open final last month.

Both players started confidently on serve, the first break point coming in the fifth game for Dementieva, with Safina shrugging it off with a backhand winner.

Dementieva also saved two break points in the sixth before stealing her opponent’s serve in the ninth, following up to take the opening set after 43 minutes.

Regular as a clockwork, Dementieva sent her rival scampering from one end of the court to the other.

Unable to break up her opponent’s rhythm, a frustrated Safina’s only answer was to attempt some clumsy drop shots.

True to form, Safina reacted by shouting, throwing her racket to the court, slamming the balls on the ground and whacking the Centre Court’s geranium display.

As Safina looked to be heading for the exit, a confident Dementieva raced into a 5-2 lead.

Then the tide turned. Safina took a step back from her baseline, putting more top-spin in her shots, wearing out her opponent’s patience to break for 5-3.

After serving a double fault, Safina had a match point against her but just as she did against Sharapova, she saved it with a winner.

After Safina broke again to level the set at 5-5, Dementieva saved three break points in the 11th game, including winning a 29-stroke rally.

Safina also held serve and won the resulting tiebreak 7-5 with a backhand winner dropping on the baseline. Dementieva totally collapsed after losing the 80-minute second set, often looking at her teary-eyed mother in the stands for encouragement, but it was all too late and she sent a forehand long to give Safina another huge confidence boost.

Meanwhile, another Russian and fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova ended the dream run of Estonian Kaia Kanepi at the French Open with a 7-5, 6-2 victory, sealing a place in the semi-finals for the second time in three years.

Kanepi, the first Estonian to reach the last eight of a Grand Slam event, led 4-2 in the first set but 2006 runner-up Kuznetsova hit back to win it and then eased through the second.

World number 49 Kanepi powered ahead in the first set and had a point to lead 5-2 but the former US Open champion broke back immediately and one more break in the 11th game helped her to take the opening set.

Another break in the third game of the second set knocked the fight out of Kanepi and Kuznetsova eased through to a semi-final against fellow Russian Dinara Safina, seeded 13.

In the run-up to the French Open, Kuznetsova lost in the last 16 of both Rome and Berlin, not the kind of form that usually translates into success on the clay of Roland Garros.

But the 22-year-old has reached the last four without dropping a set and said that it was all a question of motivation.

Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Women’s singles (quarter-finals): 13-Dinara Safina (Russia) bt 7-Elena Dementieva (Russia) 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-0; 4-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) 7-5, 6-2.

Women’s doubles (semi-finals): 10-Anabel Medina/Virginia Ruano (Spain) bt 1-Cara Black/Liezel Huber (Zimbabwe/US) 6-4, 7-6(2); Casey Dellacqua/Francesca Schiavone (Australia/Italy) bt 7-Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-1.—Reuters