Two points from defeat, defending champion Francesca Schiavone came back to beat 14th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 on Tuesday in the French Open quarterfinals.
The 30-year-old Schiavone was the oldest female quarterfinalist; the 19-year-old Pavlyuchenkova was the youngest.
Appearing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, Pavlyuchenkova won 10 of the first 12 games to lead by a set and 4-1 in the second. She was two points away from victory in the second set’s 10th game. But Schiavone turned things around and led 5-1 in the third set before Pavlyuchenkova made things interesting.
A year ago at Roland Garros, Schiavone became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title.
