Svetlana Kuznetsova gave warning that she can still contend at grand slams on Sunday by defeating German eighth seed Angelique Kerber in three sets to reach the French Open tennis quarter-finals.
The 27-year-old Russian won the second of her two major titles in Paris in 2009 but, since then, has struggled with injuries and loss of form, slipping to 85th in the world rankings at the start of the year.
But a run into the Australian Open quarter-finals boosted her confidence and she once again, as an unseeded player, drew inspiration from the claycourts at Roland Garros to record her best win of the year.
Kerber was under pressure on serve early on, but she was the one to grab the first service break of the match to take a 4-3 lead.
She handed that back immediately and the more aggressive Kuznetsova then won the next two games, sealing the set with a crosscourt forehand winner.
The Russian made it five games in a row to lead 2-0 in the second before Kerber stopped the rot with a break of her own to level at 2-2.
The German went on to break again in the ninth game and served out to level the match.
But it was Kuznetsova who dominated the deciding set, winning four games in a row to lead 4-1 and then holding serve twice to take the match 6-4 4-6 6-3.
Next up for Kuznetsova will be top seed Serena Williams if the American can defeat Italy’s Roberta Vinci, the world No.1 doubles player, in the next match-up on centre court.
The Russian defeated Williams in the quarter-finals on her way to the title in 2009.
The 31-year-old Williams is on a 27-match winning streak – the longest of her career – having won four straight tournaments coming in to Roland Garros.
The only French Open success to date among her 15 grand slam titles came 11 years ago and her problems on the claycourts were again in evidence last year when she crashed out in the first round.
Also in fourth-round action on Sunday was fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland going up against 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and last year’s runner-up Sara Errani of Italy taking on Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.
