S. Williams ousted in French Open quarters

PARIS, June 3 (UPI) -- Svetlana Kuznetsova claimed a tight three-set victory Wednesday, eliminating world No. 2 Serene Williams in quarterfinal play at the French Open in Paris.

Kuznetsova, seeded seventh, had the advantage at several points in the match but Williams fought back before Kuznetsova finished off a service break for a 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 7-5 victory.

She will go against 30th-seeded Samantha Stosur in the semifinals. Stosur was a 6-1, 6-3 winner over unseeded Sorana Cirstea on Wednesday. The other semifinal has No. 1-ranked Dinara Safina playing 20th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova.

Kuznetsova took leads in each of the first two sets before Williams made things tight. In the second set, Kuznetsova was serving for the match at 5-3 but Williams won the next six games. This time Kuznetsova came back, going from 0-2 down to a 5-4 lead.

Williams held serve but, after Kuznetsova moved ahead 6-5, 40-15, sent a shot long to end the match.

Stosur had no problems with Cirstea, completing the win with a service break in the ninth game of the second set. It was her fifth break of the day. Stosur dominated the opening set, taking 28 of the 43 points and winning in 27 minutes.

The second set was tighter, mainly because Stosur was having trouble with her first serve. But on receiving, she took half the points and had three breaks.