Serena Williams Defeats Svetlana Kuznetsova to Advance at 2013 French Open

Serena Williams escaped a challenge from Svetlana Kuznetsova (6-1, 3-6, 6-3) to reach the 2013 French Open semifinals.

Williams has been downright dominant throughout the season's second major. Perhaps fueled by last year's first-round exit in Paris, she's now dropped just one set through five rounds and is two wins from her second French title (the first one came in 2002).

Even though the top-ranked player and 15-time Grand Slam singles champion was clearly in good form heading into the event, questions still remained—mostly because she hadn't advanced past the quarterfinals since 2003 on Roland Garros' clay courts.

Any lingering concerns were eliminated by defeating Kuznetsova. The 2009 French Open champion put up a fight, especially in the second set, but she simply wasn't able to generate enough winners to pull off the upset. She did challenge Williams more than anybody else to this point, though.

The quarterfinal exit still marks a good run for the Russian star. She entered the tournament unseeded and lost her final tuneup match to Simona Halep, but she rebounded strong on the Grand Slam stage, matching her Australian Open result.

Kuznetsova beat two seeded players, Ekaterina Makarova and Angelique Kerber, along the way. Just like in Melbourne, however, she ran into the top seed—which was Victoria Azarenka at that time—in the quarterfinals and bowed out.

While Williams did show some vulnerability in the second set, her ability to bounce back strong illustrates what makes her so difficult to beat. Even when she's not at her peak, she's able to take out a former champion. Her off days are other players' best days.

The key turning point came in the third game of the final set. Kuznetsova, who was the first player to make Williams work hard on serve in the tournament (Williams had gone unbroken), had a 2-0 lead and was pushing for another break to start pulling away.

Williams fought back to win the game and took control from there.

All told, it was a very competitive and entertaining match after the first set. Whenever one player seemed to grab the upper hand, the other would fight back to seize control—certainly not what anybody expected after Williams cruised through the first set.

Having survived the scare, the match should actually benefit the American, who hadn't been challenged prior to the quarterfinals. Now she has a tension-filled match in the rear-view mirror as she prepares for the semifinals.

Williams will face Sara Errani, who defeated Agnieszka Radwanska in her quarterfinal, for a spot in the championship match.