2012 French Open - Stosur and Errani Breeze Into Semis - NYTimes.com Samantha Stosur of Australia returning to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in their quarterfinal match Tuesday at the French Open. Stosur won, 6-4, 6-1, to advance to the semifinals, her third in four years at Roland Garros. PARIS - It will be Samantha Stosur versus Sara Errani in the semifinals of the French Open, and at least one part of that equation is not surprising. Stosur, a powerful yet fragile tennis player, is the reigning U.S. Open champion, but it is in Paris that she been most consistently effective. This will be her third semifinal at Roland Garros in the past four years, and she got there this year by dominating Dominika Cibulkova, 6-4, 6-1, on a cool Tuesday. "The last few years have been very good to me in Paris," Stosur said as she came off the Philippe Chatrier court. I love playing on this court. Errani is a different matter. Until this year, the unimposing Italian had never been past the third round in a major tournament and had won just one match in the French Open main draw. But she is in the midst of a year that is changing perceptions about her limitations. After a run to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, she has won three tournaments on clay and is now in the final four of the clay-court tournament that matters most. On Tuesday, she managed to defuse her resourceful and in-form German opponent, the 10th-seeded Angelique Kerber, saving set points in the second set before winning in style, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2). It was Errani's first victory over a top-10 player in 29 attempts. It also made her Italy's latest feel-good story at the French Open, after Francesca Schiavone's unexpected and emotional run to the women's title in 2010. "I remember that," Errani said, with a grin. It's inspiration, but I'm not thinking about that when I'm playing. Errani credits her breakthrough season, in part, to a racket change. She is now using a different model that remains slightly longer than the typical 69 centimeters, or 27 inches, and she holds her racket low on the grip on her forehand, all of which gives her extra reach. She needs it considering that she is just 1.64 meters, or about 5-foot-5, in a sport where stars like Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova are all above 1.80 meters. "A big change for me was really the racket, a big change that made me feel much better in the court and not too different with the other players in power," Errani said. Cibulkova, even smaller than Errani at 1.61 meters, was overwhelmed by the differences she felt between her own game and Stosur's game on Tuesday. Stosur's kick serve and inside-out topspin forehand are two of the most intimidating weapons in the women's game. Count Cibulkova among the intimidated. "I have to say that she played unbelievably today," Cibulkova said in her postmatch news conference. Her topspin and her serve, I mean, she played like a man, and it's really hard to play against a man. Comparing women's players to men has caused controversy in the past. But Cibulkova, when asked later to clarify her comment, said that she did not mean to imply that Stosur had any unfair advantage, only that the heaviness of her ball and her style of play reminded her of playing a man. "As a player, she's very fit," Cibulkova said. I'm not saying anything bad. I'm just saying she's playing like a man. "I mean nobody has a serve like her," Cibulkova added. She's kicking the serve so much so she gets me out of the court, and her topspin from the forehand, nobody is playing topspin like her. It's more men's style, so it's what I meant. Stosur, seeded sixth, has beaten Errani in all five of their previous matches, and her kick serve and topspin forehand will give her some of the same tactical advantages that she enjoyed against Cibulkova. But Errani, as she showed against Kerber, has a wider range of options than Cibulkova.