Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark was 10 when Francesca Schiavone of Italy last reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. It was nine years ago. In the intervening years, Wozniacki blossomed into the best young player in tennis, reaching the final of the United States Open in September. Schiavone mostly grew older. Perhaps that allowed her to appreciate fully what she did on Tuesday, beating Wozniacki in two easy sets, 6-2, 6-3. She celebrated by falling on the red dirt and kissing it. Schiavone, seeded 17th and three weeks shy of her 30th birthday, became the first Italian woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in the Open era by pulling off the latest in her string of upsets. 'I'm 29 years old,' Schiavone said. 'I do this job for life. Maybe I don't understand right now, but many people already told me it is something big and different and special.' Schiavone will play No. 5 Elena Dementieva in the semifinals. Dementieva beat her fellow Russian Nadia Petrova, the 19th seed, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Schiavone's road to a championship is well obstructed by history. A woman not seeded in the top 10 at Roland Garros has won only once, in 1933. But Schiavone, never a top-10 player, is peaking perfectly at her favorite event. On Court Philippe Chatrier, she used quickness, guile and spin to dictate points, then finished many of them with a torching backhand. 'She's definitely a difficult player to play against because she plays with a lot of spin,' Wozniacki said. 'She plays differently. She mixes up the balls a lot. Yeah, she didn't play typical women's tennis.' Wozniacki, usually as dependable as a tennis ball machine when it comes to returning shots, camped mostly behind the baseline. Schiavone, hitting the ball deep and wide, kept Wozniacki on defense. The usually rangy Wozniacki played with one thigh wrapped and seemed slower than usual getting to balls. 'I was always one step behind, and I couldn't dominate the way I wanted to,' Wozniacki said. It was like watching a hummingbird fight a hawk, and Schiavone flitted to an unpredictably easy victory. 'It's not easy for her to win points,' Schiavone said. 'I run and run and run, and I push her.' With the men's and women's fields each whittled to a final eight, the schedule was pushed from its usual 11 a.m. start to 2 p.m., local time. The afternoon skies were ominous, and light rain began to fall early in the two scheduled women's quarterfinals. Wozniacki was losing, 3-2, in the first set when she asked the chair umpire to consider halting the match. The umpire inspected the court, talked to officials and ordered play to continue. Schiavone won the next three games and the set. But the crushed-brick surface of the courts turned a bit mushy. At Court Suzanne Lenglen, as there was some discussion about the rain, Dementieva asked to be excused for a medical break. She disappeared off the court and returned with her right upper thigh wrapped. When she returned a few minutes later, Petrova requested a leave, too. She returned with her left thigh wrapped. Dementieva, a finalist at the French Open in 2004 but never a Grand Slam champion, found her footing in the second set. Petrova went down meekly in a slop of unforced errors. Dementieva and Petrova played for the 15th time, a Russian rivalry that Dementieva now leads. Dementieva had won the previous four meetings, but the last three lasted three sets. Their matchup ensured that Russia would have a semifinalist at Roland Garros for the eighth consecutive year. That sort of steady success is unfathomable in Italy. Schiavone reached a career-best No. 11 ranking in 2006, but she gradually faded. She did not disappear entirely, however, reviving her fortunes in the recent Fed Cup and with strong, steady play this spring. Now headed to the top 10 for the first time in her career, Schiavone has never played so well. Wozniacki, customarily cool on the court, grew visibly frustrated at times. Early in the second set she threw her racket to the ground. She occasionally berated herself in Polish, the native language of her parents. Her mother was a member of Poland's national volleyball team and her father was a soccer player who signed with a team in Denmark, where Wozniacki grew up. As Schiavone neared victory, her strokes became a bit wobbly. But serving for the match at 30-15, she followed her first serve with a volley, putting away a winner. She finished match point with an assertive smash, then bounced on the court in celebration. 'In that moment, you remember many things from when you are young,' Schiavone said. 'It's special, because it's your time, your opportunity.' Finally, a kiss. It was nearly 10 years in the making. 