World number one Dinara Safina reached the French Open semi-finals on Tuesday with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Belarusian ninth seed Victoria Azarenka, whose hair-trigger temperament fell apart. Top seed Safina will face either Russia's Maria Sharapova or Slovakian 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova for a place in the final. "I had lots of chances but didn't take them," said Azarenka.
"She stepped it up when she needed to and played well at the key moments. "I just have to learn to try and do better next time." Safina, the runner-up here in 2008, had stormed into the quarter-finals having lost just five games in four rounds, but it took only 20 minutes on Tuesday for the 23-year-old to drop five more.
Azarenka had defeated Safina for the first and only time in four previous meetings on her way to the Miami title in March and the 19-year-old, who knocked out defending champion Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round, came out firing, spearing a succession of flat, deep, forehand and backhand winners.
Three breaks of serve gave the blonde the opening set after just 21 minutes. Safina dramatically reduced her error-count in the second set and with Azarenka's suspect temperament suddenly a factor, the Russian was two breaks to the good for a 4-1 lead.
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