Schiavone and Stosur to meet in the womens French Open final.

In the first womens semifinal match, Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to ever reach a Grand Slam final when she beat Elena Dementieva 7-6 (ret.).  The ending of the match came as a shock to Schiavone, as Dementieva after losing the first set tiebreaker decided to retire from the match. 

In her post-match interview, Dementieva sighted a torn calf muscle as the main reason for her not continuing in the match.  The odd thing about this is that going into Thursday's semifinal, Dementieva had no wrapping on her calf, and when it became bothersome, she didn't even attempt to have a trainer look at it.  She could of received some medical assistance and treatment during an injury timeout, but chose to just call it a day and hand over the victory to Schiavone.

It almost seemed as if Elena did not want to be out there.  I'm sure she was injured, but the question is just how injured was she?  It looked like she could of continued, but chose to just give up.  Dementieva pointed out that she has been bothered by the injured calf since her 2nd round match, so supposedly she has been dealing with it for over a week.

When it comes down to it, Elena Dementieva just doesn't have the mental toughness to push herself to a Grand Slam championship.  She may go down as probably the most talented player whether man or woman to never win a Grand Slam title.


The second semifinal was an absolute beatdown.  Samantha Stosur used a huge serve, and an even bigger forehand to just push and pummel Jelena Jankovic from start to finish.  Jankovic didn't know what hit her in the 6-1, 6-2 route.  After the match Jankovic said "It was like playing a man", not that Sam Stosur is manly, but her game with the spin she creates on her shots and her kick serve is reminiscent of a mens player.

Come Saturday, either Sam Stosur or Francesca Schiavone will put their name in the record books as becoming a Grand Slam Champion for the first time.