Ivanovic upsets Kuznetsova to reach semis

PARIS, Jun 5 (Reuters) Serbia's Ana Ivanovic roared into her first grand slam semi-final with a 6-0 3-6 6-1 win over third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova at the French Open today.

The 19-year-old never lost belief throughout the contest and let out a shriek of joy as she kept alive hopes of an all-Serbian final showdown on Saturday following the success of Jelena Jankovic.

''I'm very excited to be here and play my first semi-final.

It was a tough match and I was lucky to come through,'' said Ivanovic.

Kuznetsova had been runner-up to Justine Henin at Roland Garros 12 months ago but rarely looked like the player ranked third in the world.

She had been one of only three women to reach the quarter-finals without dropping a set and that statistic lasted a mere 21 minutes on Tuesday as the first set flashed by in a blur of errors from the Russian.

Roger Federer had picked Kuznetsova as his favourite women's player but it is unlikely there was much the men's number one would have been impressed with if he had decided to pop into Centre Court before his own quarter-final later in the day.

A backhand down the line error winner sealed the first set for Ivanovic After 27 minutes of one-sided action, Kuznetsova finally registered on the board and she fought back to take the second set when Ivanovic netted a forehand.

She sought assistance from the trainer for an abdominal strain at 2-1 down in the decider and from that moment on the Russian's game once again disintegrated.

A wild forehand booked Ivanovic a place in the last four against second seed Maria Sharapova or Russian ninth seed Anna Chakvetadze.

REUTERS SAM HT1937