Stosur sets up semi with Errani after US Open champion defeats Cibulkova

By Sportsmail Reporter

Published: 09:10 EST, 5 June 2012 | Updated: 09:13 EST, 5 June 2012

US Open champion Sam Stosur became the first woman into the French Open semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Dominika Cibulkova on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The Australian, who lost to Francesca Schiavone in the final in 2010, was too powerful for 5ft 3in Cibulkova, the conqueror of world number one Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round.

The Slovakian mounted a brief comeback in the opening set, pulling back from 5-2 down to 5-4, and twice she had a chance to level, but Stosur held firm and clinched the game with two massive forehands.

It was a shot that Cibulkova simply had no answer to, and in the second set a relaxed-looking Stosur breezed through, sealing victory at the first opportunity when her opponent netted an attempted drop shot.

The 28-year-old sixth seed has now made the semi-finals here in three of the past four years and will be a hot favourite to reach another final having seen all the other big names in her half of the draw fall away.

In the last four Stosur will play Italy's Sara Errani, who claimed her first victory over a top-10 player in 29 attempts by defeating German 10th seed Angelique Kerber 6-3, 7-6 (7/2).

Errani is enjoying a terrific season and has now bettered her performance at the Australian Open, where she reached the last eight before losing to Petra Kvitova.

The 25-year-old made a great start today and held her advantage throughout the first set, but the second was a topsy-turvy affair featuring eight breaks of serve.

Kerber has had a remarkable run, climbing from outside the top 100 last August to 10th in the world, but she could not find the consistency required to defeat a player of Errani's guile on clay.

Twice she served for the second set but on both occasions Errani broke back, and the Italian was the better player in the tie-break.

Reaching the final looks a tough ask, though, with Stosur having won all their previous five meetings, the most recent of which came in Rome last month.