Second seed Serena Williams ended her 18-match Grand Slam winning streak by falling to seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals of the 2009 French Open.

Russia's Kuznetsova faced a set point serving at 5-6 in the first set, but she fought it off and eventually won the set. Despite being three points from defeat in the second set, Williams evened the match, and then took a 3-1 lead in the decider. Kuznetsova mounted the final comeback and broke serve in the last game to finally beat Williams 7-6(3) 5-7 7-5.

Williams was looking for her third successive Grand Slam title and the 11th of her career.

The 2004 US Open champion Kuznetsova, who has been my second favorite for the title, just after top seed Dinara Safina, will play Samantha Stosur in the semifinals. The 25-year-old Stosur has never won a Tour title, and will be playing in her first major semifinal. In the quarterfinals the Australian beat young Romanian phenomenon Sorana Cirstea 6-1 6-3.

The other semifinal will include Russian Dinara Safina and Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova. (source: AP, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

The French Open is in full swing and you must have heard of the Court Suzanne Lenglen at the Roland Garros Stadium. So who was Suzanne Lenglen? Women Who Serve reminded us of some interesting facts about her.

•    Lenglen was a Frenchwoman who lost only one match between 1919 and 1926;

•    Lenglen wore "shocking" designer tennis clothes (which helped her movement);

•    Lenglen cried on the court;

•    Lenglen drank brandy from an "emergency kit" between sets; Read more »

Comeback player Maria Sharapova, who definitely spiced up this Roland Garros, was defeated in the quarterfinals by Slovakian seed No.20 Dominika Cibulkova 6-0 6-2. The favorite for the title, top seed Dinara Safina, advanced to the semifinals, and her next opponent will be Cibulkova.

It’s fair to say Sharapova has gone further than expected, having in mind she reached the quarterfinals with only three competitive singles matches played in nine and a half months prior to Roland Garros. On her way to the final four on her least favorite surface, Sharapova beat seed No.11 Nadia Petrova and seed No.25 Li Na.

The former world No.1 Sharapova was close to being double bageled by Cibulkova in the quarterfinals, but the Russian broke Cibulkova’s serve at 5-0, even though Cibulkova had a match point. Then Sharapova impressively won the following game, and when Cibulkova served for the match again, Sharapova gave more resistance, by saving three match points in that game. However, she was defeated on the fifth.

In the first quarterfinal of the day, top seed Dinara Safina lost her first set at the 2009 French Open to ninth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who took out defending champion Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round. However, despite opening her quarterfinal by losing the opening set in just 23 minutes, the dominant Russian won the match 1-6 6-4 6-2.

I simply have to point out the spectacular stats of Safina's first four rounds: the world No.1 won four sets at love, dropped only five games, and her average match time was just 59 minutes. (photos: Stephane Martinache)

Anna Kournikova will be hosting a live chat with her fans tomorrow on her official website. Kournikova will be available to answer your questions on tennis, the WTA Tour, the French Open, her life, her recent travels overseas, her charity work, and more.

To participate, log on to www.kournikova.com from 3pm EST on June 2, 2009. A link will be posted on the homepage of the Kournikova.com website an hour before the event starts. Alternatively, you can click the "Chat Live" link as a registered member of Kournikova’s Official Community on SportsMates.com.

World No.41 Sorana Cirstea of Romania beat fifth seed Jelena Jankovic 3-6 6-0 9-7 in the fourth round of Roland Garros, in a match that lasted two hours and 44 minutes.

The first set was in the hands of Jankovic, the second was dominated by Cirstea, while the decider brought a grueling fight. After breaking Cirstea’s serve, fifth seed Jelena Jankovic was serving for the match at 5-4 and was two points away from victory, but Cirstea broke back, and than broke Jankovic’s serve in the 16th game of the third set to win on her third match point.

The 19-year-old Cirstea had never advanced beyond the second round in her previous five major events. Jankovic was a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2007 and 2008.

Cirstea will play Australian seed No.30 Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals. Stosur defeated France’s Virginie Razzano 6-1 6-2 in the fourth round.

Second seed Serena Williams played her "most focused match so far" to beat seed No.24 Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1 6-2. Williams has now reached the quarterfinals, while extending her Grand Slam winning streak to 18 matches. The American will next play seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who outlasted 12th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 1-6 6-1. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)