French Open: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in first Grand Slam semis on 52nd attempt

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Pic/AFP

Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reached her first Grand Slam semi-final at the 52nd attempt on Tuesday with a three-set win over doubles partner Elena Rybakina at the French Open. Pavlyuchenkova, the world number 32, won 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 9-7 and will face 85th-ranked Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia for a place in the final.

"There are so many emotions to reach a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time," said 29-year-old Pavlyunchenkova who had fallen at the quarter-final stage at the majors on six previous occasions since her 2007 debut. "It's tough to play against your friend." She added: "I always had the tennis. Mentally I'm probably more solid now. Just trying to play smarter tennis. I'm working harder."

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Rybakina, who had knocked out Serena Williams in the previous round, raced into a 4-1 lead in the opener against a player who had also made the quarter-finals in Paris in 2011. Pavlyuchenkova broke back in the seventh game before the 6ft (1.84m) Russian-born Kazakh raced confidently through the tiebreak. The Russian levelled the tie courtesy of breaks in the sixth and eighth games of the second set. In a tense decider, there were four breaks in the first six games before Rybakina cracked in the 16th game, going down tamely on her sixth double fault.

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