Svetlana Kuznetsova Punches Ticket to French Open QFs

By Nick Georgandis
Photo Credit: JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images

(May 29, 2011) Beating the No. 1 player in the tournament didn't earn Daniela Hantuchova a free pass when it came to the fourth round.

Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova rallied from a heart-breaking first-set loss to take a 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-2 victory over the Slovakian on Sunday and advance to a quarterfinal matchup against Marion Bartoli.

It's the first quarterfinal appearance at a Grand Slam event for Kuznetsova since she won the French Open in 2009. Since then, she hasn't made it past the fourth round of a major, which in large part ended her run of four straight years ranked in the Top 10 when she tumbled to 27th at the end of 2010.

Now back to No. 13 in the world, Kuznetsova improved her record to 21-11 on the year by being the lesser of two evils in a match that saw 94 combined unforced errors (51 by Hantuchova).

Kuznetsova was better on first serves and executed five break-point chances, including two crucial ones to end the third set after jumping ahead of Hantuchova 3-2.

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Svetlana Kuznetsova Punches Ticket to French Open QFs

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