The fifth seed Elena Dementieva of Russia and Italian Francesca Schiavone are going to play in the semifinals at the French Open as both of them claimed victories on Tuesday.

Dementieva, 28, came back from one set down to beat her compatriot Nadia Petrova 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Both players asked for treatment during the match but Petrova seemed to be the one suffered more.

"I think probably this is the most difficult performance since I played my first time to get to the semifinals," said Dementieva, who reached her ninth Grand Slam singles semifinal.

"I think the weather condition was quite tough for everyone here during two weeks. It was a difficult challenge to win this match today against Nadia. I think we both were struggling with a little bit of injuries today, and there was difficulty to play."

"I have a strain of at adductor, and my leg had already started bothering me after the third round, after that long marathon match I had against Rezai," said Petrova who defeated the second seed Venus Williams in the fourth round after edging French Aravane Rezai in three sets.

Petrova believed that she had a good chance to win if she was not suffering for the pain.

"I won the first set comfortably. And, you know, I was limited there. I was not moving properly. I was not able to chase all the balls. You know, that was the disadvantage of today's game," said the 27-year-old world No. 20.

In the first match on court Philippe Chatrier, Schiavone only needed 80 minutes to overplay the third seed Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark in 6-2, 6-3, reaching her first Grand Slam semifinals at the age of 29.

The top seed Serena Williams from the United States and Australian Samantha Stosur are going to fight for another semifinal berth while the fourth seed Jelena Jankovic from Serbia will meet Yaroslava Shvedova from Kazakstan in the quarterfinals.