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Paris - Elena Dementieva outlasted Russian compatriot Nadia Petrova 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 to reach the French Open semi-finals for the second time on Tuesday.
The fifth seed, who was the losing finalist at Roland Garros in 2004, will play Italian 17th seed Francesca Schiavone for a place in Saturday's final.
Dementieva came out on top in a shambles of a match that was strewn with errors and mishits as both players struggled with leg injuries picked up earlier in the tournament.
The tie lasted 2 hours 6 minutes, but at least 30 minutes of this were down to medical timeouts and delays to decide whether or not to send the players off due to the light rain that was falling.
Petrova, who defeated Venus Williams in straight sets in the previous round, took the first set 6-2, but that was mainly due to the abysmal form of Dementieva, who showed all her old inconsistency on serve and failed to produce her usual rock steady groundstrokes.
But as soon Dementieva steadied her nerves and her game at the start of the second set, Petrova looked a beaten and forlorn player, unable to chase after balls and push off her heavily-strapped left thigh.
The 28-year-old Russian, who is seeking her first major Grand Slam win at the 46th time of asking, levelled the set scores and quickly broke to lead 2-0 in the decider despite Petrova heading off for another medical timeout and change of dress.
From then on in it was merely a question of whether or not Petrova would finish the match.
That she eventually did, but it was Olympic champion Dementieva who powered through 6-0 to set up a decidedly winnable-looking tie against Schiavone against whom she has a winning 6-4 career record.
