Svetlana Kuznetsova digs deep to set up Maria Sharapova semi-final

Svetlana Kuznetsova has booked her place in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open by fighting back to beat Lucie Safarova 5-7 7-5(5) 7-6(3).

The 29-year-old showed great character to force her way into the contest, having lost her serve three times in the opening set to fall behind.

Both players held in the second, meanwhile, forcing the first of two tie-breaks which Kuznetsova got the better of - taking it 7-5 to level things up overall.

Safarova blew two match points in the 10th game of the deciding set, however, and her Russian opponent was able to dig deep to prevail in sudden death to book a meeting with Maria Sharapova in the final four.