Venus Williams of the U.S. plays a shot to Nicole Vaidisova of Czech Republic in the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, June 6, 2006. Vaidisova won 6-7, 6-1, 6-3.  (Xinhua photo)

Related: Kuznetsova makes French Open semifinals    

    PARIS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova pulled off another upset Tuesday at the French Open, beating Venus Williams in three sets to earn her first Grand Slam semifinal berth.

    Vaidisova blew away a 4-1 lead in the opening set before advancing by 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-3, two days after she stunned top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo 6-7 (7-5), 6-1, 6-2.

    The 17-year-old Vaidisova next meets 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who recovered from a disastrous start to defeat Russian compatriot Dinara Safina 7-6 (7-5), 6-0.

    Williams, who hasn't reached the semifinals of a major since winning Wimbledon in 2005, and Vaidisova traded hard-hitting ground-strokes from the baseline and were able to dictate play when they got their first serves in.

    The turning point in the third set came when Vaidisova broke Williams at 2-2. Williams missed an easy volley and made two unforced errors before finishing off with a double fault.

    Williams managed to save two more break points at 2-4 before Vaidisova unleashed a powerful forehand at deuce to help her move to 5-3. Williams couldn't force Vaidisova to serve for the match, dropping her serve and the encounter when she sent a forehand long.

    Despite struggling with her serve in the initial stages of the match, Kuznetsova defended brilliantly in the seventh game, staving off Safina's advances to hold serve (2-5) on her eighth game point.

    Safina committed a string of unforced errors, mostly from her backhand side, culminating in a nervous double fault that allowed Kuznetsova to take three consecutive games and draw back even at 5-5.

    Safina broke straight back but her revival was short-lived, and she slumped in the next game, making four unforced errors to give her compatriot the upper hand.

    In the ensuing tiebreak, Kuznetsova raced out to a 5-1 lead and never looked back, taking the set on her second opportunity when ascrambling Safina failed to retrieve a whopping forehand drive.

    After giving it her all in the 68-minute opener, Safina had nothing left in the second set, losing her next three service games and crumbling to defeat in 20 minutes. Enditem