Look at the face.What a Classic One.
I have been following her in watching playing tennis.
Ever since my favorite "Jennifer Caparati left and did not have one for a long time.
Sure we have the Williams Sisters who are the greatest in tennis but loved an underdog.
She was it.
I do not expect her to go all of the way but it will be nice for the country of Italy and my country.
She remind me of that great actress.Anna Magani.
I know her last name is incorrect.
No I am not predjuice.
Just loved my country woman.
Good Luck Francesca,Alfredo loves ya.
Yes,I loved this woman.
What a feat for her.






PARIS -- After Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to reach the French Open semifinals since 1954, she collapsed face-down on center court and kissed the clay.

Schiavone upset No. 3-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in Tuesday's quarterfinals 6-2, 6-3. Seeded 17th, Schiavone is the first Italian woman to reach the semifinals at any Grand Slam tournament in the Open era, which began in 1968.

Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images
The clay of Roland Garros gets a smooch from Francesca Schiavone, the first Italian woman to reach the French semifinals in the Open era.
"I'll tell you the truth: I can't grasp the historical nature of what I did," Schiavone said. "But the importance of this victory, in itself? Yes. ... I'm enjoying it so much. When you work a lot, hard every morning, every afternoon of your life, and arrive at a good result, I think you feel much more."

Schiavone's opponent Thursday will be No. 5-seeded Elena Dementieva, who rallied past fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. The showing is Dementieva's best at Roland Garros since 2004, when she was runner-up.

The 29-year-old Schiavone had been 0-3 in major quarterfinals and hadn't reached the final eight at Roland Garros since 2001. This time she made the most of her chance.

Playing on Roland Garros' center court for the first time in her career, Schiavone won with steady, sometimes looping groundstrokes, limiting errors while mixing the pace to keep Wozniacki off-balance. Rallies sometimes became moonball exchanges reminiscent of the wooden-racket era.

"She's definitely a difficult player to play against, because she plays with a lot of spin," Wozniacki said. "She plays differently. She mix up the balls a lot. She didn't play typical women's tennis."

Schiavone played serve and volley to win the next-to-last point. After she slammed an overhead winner on her final shot, she leaped, raised her arms with a scream and lifted her racket over her head in jubilation.

Then she kissed the clay.

"It was a thank you," Schiavone said. "I was quite willing to eat some clay."

She improved to 8-40 against players ranked in the top five.

Schiavone broke serve six times, won 13 of 16 points when she reached the net and enjoyed a 25-10 edge over Wozniacki in winners.

"I didn't give her many chance to let her play easy," Schiavone said. "I played long and sometimes short and tried to come to the net. It was a good mix."

Wozniacki, at 19, was the tournament's youngest quarterfinalist. She was playing in her second Grand Slam quarterfinal after reaching the U.S. Open final last year.

The quarterfinals began on a cool, damp afternoon with occasional rain that had some spectators watching from under umbrellas. Dementieva pulled away by hitting 11 winners in the third set, when Petrova won only 12 points.