World No. 4 Petra Kvitova battled back from a set down to oust Yaroslava Shvedova and reach the semifinal of the French Open on Wednesday.
Shvedova, ranked 142nd in the world, surprised Kvitova in the first set and was a break up in the decider, but the Czech prevailed to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Kvitova will be aiming to end her eight-month wait to play in a tournament final when she takes on world No. 2 Maria Sharapova in the semifinal.
The Russian won 6-2, 6-3 against Estonian 23rd seed Kaia Kanepi, the highest-rated player Sharapova has faced so far, earlier Wednesday.
Sharapova’s only other encounter with a seed was a 6-2, 6-1 thrashing of China’s Shuai Peng, seeded 28th, in the third round Saturday.
Reaching the final will be enough to ensure Sharapova retakes the world No. 1 spot from Victoria Azarenka.
