French Open 2014: Andrea Petkovic and Simona Halep reach semifinals

Andrea Petkovic during her match against Sara Errani

After rain threatened to consume the day and the players had waited for over three hours, Simona Halep and Andrea Petkovic had no time to waste. Both women earned symmetrical 6-2, 6-2 victories over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Sara Errani respectively to reach the maiden grand slam semifinals of their careers.

Errani has been a constant feature in the top ten of both singles and doubles, riding the crest of her consistency to cement her place at the high table of women’s tennis. The Italian’s only grand slam final came here at the French Open in 2012 and having beaten the German recently in Madrid must have filled her with confidence going into this delayed quarterfinal against Petkovic.

The story of the German has been well documented – after losing in the second round of the French Open qualifiers last year, Petkovic considered retiring from the game. The joyous dancer who celebrated being on court was lost in the woods and Petkovic started to hate tennis.

Just in 2011, the German was bouncing with energy as she made her way into the top ten after reaching the quarters in three of the four grand slam tournaments. She was popular too – her Petko dance was going viral on the net and people adored her post match celebrations.

Unfortunately though, she was laid low by injuries – back, ankle and knee crumbled one after another, dropping her ranking to 177th in the world. For a woman who had tasted success, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

Thankfully though her love for tennis won over. But here she was on Phillippe Chatrier playing against her 10th seeded Italian opponent with a chance to outdo herself. But it was Errani who got off the blocks in a hurry.

The Italian broke serve in the very first game, a trademark backhand down the line winner putting her ahead. At 0-2, something seemed to click for Petkovic, who rattled her opponent with a series of forehand winners as she hit a hot streak.

Petkovic won six straight games to send Errani into a shocked silence, even as she cleaned up the first set in 27 minutes. Not perturbed, Errani broke at the start of the second as she sought a way back into the contest.

The tall and lanky Petkovic was taking no prisoners though, as she literally stood inside the baseline to attack Errani’s serve. An erratic Errani missed an overhead to be broken to love and Petkovic was bouncing with energy as if the two were playing on her yard.

At 4-2 in the second set, Petkovic sailed a forehand long to offer Errani a slight opening at 15-30. A backhand into the net presented Errani two chances to break back. The German drew out a pair of great serves, just as she needed them, to claw the game back to deuce.

When she survived a long rally to finish the point with a powerful winner, Petkovic immediately knew the gravity of taking that service game for a 5-2 lead. The eighth game went to deuce – Errani seeking desperately to stay alive and Petkovic looking to shut the door on her opponent.

Eventually it was Errani who wilted, striking a backhand wide to leave Petkovic victorious and through to her maiden grand slam semi-final. In fact Petkovic became the first German since Steffi Graf in 1999 to reach the last four at Roland Garros.

Petkovic has to contend with Simona Halep in the semi-finals. The Romanian made light of the challenge posed by Svetlana Kuznetsova, rolling to an easy 6-2, 6-2 just a little later than the German. But it wasn’t all easy.

Simona Halep after her victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova

The start of the match saw an attritional first two games take 22 minutes on Suzanne Lenglen as the two woman fought off break points before holding serve. The Romanian though stamped her authority on the match when she broke in the third game to begin her march into the last four.

Kuznetsova pushed to the end but a well struck volley followed by a forehand winner gave Halep match point and she competed the last rites to book her place in the semis. So it will be a battle between two women who have never tested waters as deep as they will now when they meet for a place in the finals.