Australian Samantha Stosur and Virginie Razzano of France both reached their fist semi-finals of the season with laboured wins at the Southern California Open on Friday.
Stosur, a former US Open champion seeded fifth, put out second seed Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5 2-6 6-3, taking two and a half hours on a day of lengthy matches to go through.
The unseeded Razzano fulfilled wild card entry and more by stunning 2011 Wimbledon winner and third seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in a 6-7 7-5 7-6 marathon which took more than three and a half hours.
The Frenchwoman ranked number 131, may have taken some inspiration from compatriot Marion Bartoli’s Wimbledon win of last month as she reached a semi for the first time in more than four years.
The 30-year-old winner wasted a quartet of match points in the epic and saved two from her high-profile opponent on the way to the upset. A Kvitova double-faults ended the struggle.
“I was nervous, I’m human. not a robot,” said the delighted Razzano. “You sometimes feel stress. I tried to focus on the points.”
The contest turned into the second longest on the WTA this season after Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Anastasia Rodionova went 3:42 at Charleston four months ago.
Razzano next takes on Stosur, with the Australian having won all five matches between the pair.
Razzano had not beaten a top 10 players since stunning Serena Williams in the first round of the french Open a year ago.