Top-ranked Dinara Safina reaches semifinal with 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Azarenka in French Open

No. 1 Safina rallies past Azarenka in Paris

PARIS — A slow start couldn’t stop top-ranked Dinara Safina from reaching the semifinals at the French Open.

Faced with a tough test for the first time in the tournament, Safina rallied to beat Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 Tuesday.

Safina, seeking her first Grand Slam title, lost only five games in the first four rounds. Against Azarenka, Safina was repeatedly lunging for shots early but regained her dominating form at 4-all in the second set.

Safina’s opponent Thursday will be the winner of the other women’s quarterfinal Tuesday between Maria Sharapova and Dominika Cibulkova.

Safina was the runner-up at the 2008 French Open and this year’s Australian Open. She became No. 1 for the first time on April 20 and is 19-1 this year on clay.

In men’s play, Robin Soderling came up with an impressive encore to his upset of top-ranked Rafael Nadal by beating Nikolay Davydenko. The No. 23-seeded Soderling swept the first five games and won 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.

Soderling advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal, where he’ll face No. 3 Andy Murray or No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez.

On a cloudless, mild afternoon, the No. 9-seeded Azarenka played nearly flawless tennis at the outset. She hit 10 winners with one unforced error in the opening set, which took only 23 minutes.

But after Safina fell behind 1-love in the second set she dug in, running off four consecutive games. Her groundstrokes became steadier, while mistakes crept into Azarenka’s play. The Belarussian double-faulted on consecutive points and made four unforced errors to lose a service game at love.

When Azarenka sailed a return long on the final point of the second set, she angrily threw down her racket, caught it on the bounce and threw it again as the crowd hooted.

By the final changeover, a frustrated Azarenka sat with a towel draped over her face. Safina, the sister of two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin, swept the last three games and the final five points.

Roger Federer, who has yet to win a French Open title, faces No. 11-seeded Gael Monfils of France in the quarterfinals Wednesday. Federer was five points from a straight-set defeat Monday before rallying past Tommy Haas 6-7 (4), 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, while Monfils beat the darkness and No. 6 Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

Roddick began to complain in the second set that he had trouble seeing the ball in the fading light, but tournament officials denied his pleas for an overnight suspension of play.

Roddick missed several easy shots at the net, including a volley on match point to give Monfils the victory at 9:37 p.m. In his postmatch news conference, Roddick downplayed his frustration.

“We were dealing with the same conditions,” he said. “Regardless of what my opinion is on the situation, it’s not my decision to make. He handled the conditions better than I did.”

The loss brought a sour end to Roddick’s best showing at Roland Garros, and left Serena Williams as the lone American remaining in singles. She reached the final eight Monday by beating Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-2.