Russian sixth seed Anastasia Myskina beat fourth-seeded American Venus Williams 6-3, 6-4 to reach the French Open semifinals on Tuesday to keep alive her country’s hopes of putting an end to their long wait for a champion in Paris.
Myskina will now face 2001 champion Jennifer Capriati, the seventh seed who beat 2002 winner Serena Williams, for a place in the final as she looks to become the first Russian woman to win the Roland Garros crown.
The defeat compounded Venus’s recent misery after she came into the tournament nursing a damaged ankle that forced her to default from the final in Berlin last month.
It also came just a few minutes after her sister had been knocked out of the tournament over on the Philippe Chatrier court.
Myskina had lost both her previous meetings to the four-time Grand Slam title winner but the 22-year-old was the quickest to settle in the cool, damp conditions on the Suzanne Lenglen court racing into a 4-0 lead thanks to two breaks of serves.
She was immediately pegged back to 4-1 but held on to take the first set after 28 minutes when Venus, the runner-up to sister Serena in Paris in 2002, hit a forehand long.
Williams hit 18 unforced errors to Myskina’s eight in the opener as she struggled to make any impression against the faster Russian who was thriving in the wet, gloomy conditions.
Myskina broke again in the first game of the second set but Williams held on valiantly to break straight back.
Crucially, the sixth seed gained a break to love to lead 4-3 and then held to go 5-3 before Williams clung on at 5-4 down.
Williams carved out three break points but Myskina saved all three and then set up a match point with a fine running forehand and then took the match after 72 minutes on court when the American smashed another careless backhand from the baseline long.
It was the 23-year-old Williams’s 43rd unforced error of a very frustrating day for her family. — Sapa-AFP
Capriati beats Serena in rainy battle