Hungarian teenager Agnes Szavay and top seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia will battle for the Open Gaz the France title in Sunday's final.

In today's semis seventh-seeded Szavay, who won her first two singles titles (Palermo and Beijing) and reached the US Open quarterfinals last year, defeated Elena Dementieva 6-3 1-6 7-5. Chakvetadze advanced to the title match with a 2-6 6-2 6-0 win over local favorite Marion Bartoli. Bartoli made a promising start but then collapsed against Chakvetadze, who made her breakthrough last year by winning four titles and reaching the US Open semifinals. Read more »

Top seed Russian Anna Chakvetadze beat home favorite and former world number one Amelie Mauresmo 3-6 6-3 6-3 to reach the Open Gaz de France semifinals where she will face another Frenchwoman, Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli.

The victory is Chakvetadze’s first in four meetings against Mauresmo. The two-time Grand Slam champion Mauresmo won the Parisian tournament in 2001 and 2006 and was the runner-up in 1999, 2003 and 2005. We’re still waiting for her to start making such good results again after a disappointing season 2007 which ruined her confidence.

After the tough and more than two hours long quarterfinal, world number seven Chakvetadze is tired and said it won't be easy to recover and enter the semifinal clash against third seed Bartoli really fresh. Chakvetadze and Bartoli have met only once so far, that was in Luxembourg last year, and Bartoli won in three sets.

In the other semifinal, Hungarian Agnes Szavay and Russian Elena Dementieva will face each other. (photo via Getty Images)

Agnes Szavay of Hungary beat Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 7-6 6-1 to advance to the semifinals of the Open Gaz de France in Paris.

Second-seeded Hantuchova took a 4-1 lead in the first set, but seventh-seeded Szavay recovered and eventually took the tiebreak 7-4. In the second game of the second set Hantuchova received treatment on her right hand and had it bandaged. After that, she lost five consecutive games, and hence the match, but she refused to blame the defeat solely on the injury.

"My hand was hurting, it's true, but that's not an excuse," said Hantuchova. "My opponent played really well."

In the semifinals of the Tier II tournament in Paris, Szavay will face Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva, who advanced with a 7-5 6-2 win over Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko. (source: Reuters)