Upstart Teen Eliminates the Last American

Unless something out of the ordinary happens, this won’t be another Clarisa Fernandez nanosecond French Open moment in the sun.

Nicole Vaidisova and the word fluke don’t seem to belong in the same sentence. Not the way it was for Fernandez after she made the semifinals here in 2002 and then essentially vanished from contention, not even landing a page in the voluminous WTA media guide in 2006.

For Vaidisova, the foundation was already in place -- six singles titles on the tour, including one in Strasbourg, France, just before the French Open. This came before the hard-hitting, long-legged teenager made her Grand Slam splash in Paris, defeating No. 1-ranked Amelie Mauresmo of France and former No. 1 Venus Williams.

Her 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3 quarterfinal victory Tuesday against the 11th-seeded Williams was nearly a copy of the Mauresmo win: a tight first-set loss and an overwhelming display of power tennis in the latter two sets. It landed the 17-year-old from the Czech Republic in the semifinals against eighth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, who defeated her countrywoman No. 14 Dinara Safina, 7-6 (5), 6-0, rallying from a 1-5 first-set deficit.

“I’m so excited like I could scream,” Vaidisova told French on-court TV interviewer Nelson Monfort.

He assured her that she could go ahead and do so. “I won’t,” she said.

She might want to save that reaction for the next round.

The other semifinal will feature an all-Belgian match between No. 2 Kim Clijsters and defending champion and No. 5 Justine Henin-Hardenne. Henin-Hardenne beat No. 13 Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany, 7-5, 6-2. Clijsters, by the end, made No. 12 Martina Hingis of Switzerland look like a rag doll without the stuffing, defeating Hingis, 7-6 (5), 6-1, meaning the French Open still remains the only Slam missing on Hingis’ resume.

Top-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland moved two wins away from taking the second leg of a calendar Grand Slam. He defeated No. 12 Mario Ancic of Croatia, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, in the quarterfinals and has lost only one set in five matches. He will next play No. 3 David Nalbandian of Argentina, who defeated No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Of course, Federer answered the obligatory question about playing defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain in the final.

“Yeah, I’d like to play him still. Hasn’t changed,” Federer said, smiling. “Like you said, let’s not forget who’s next. That is a tough match for me. Look, I think we all would love to see me playing Rafa in the finals except two other players. They stand in our way.”

The Nadal-Federer buzz has been in the Paris air the entire fortnight, in fact, germinating well before the French Open.

As for the hype surrounding Vaidisova, her breakthrough moment wasn’t expected to happen in Paris. Not on this surface, and not this quickly. Despite the victory in Strasbourg, she did suffer losses during the American clay-court season to Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic and Catalina Castano of Colombia.

“I don’t know myself,” she said. “Clay was definitely not my No. 1 pick. I love hard courts. Surprised myself a little bit. I knew before I came here that I saw changes in my game a little bit.”

Williams kept having to pull herself out of difficult situations, rallying from a 1-4 deficit in the first set and a 2-5 hole in the tiebreaker. She could not sustain a high level consistently in the second and third sets.

“Obviously I’m disappointed,” said Williams, the final American in singles’ play. “I would have loved to have done better. During this last six weeks, I had a lot of challenges, physically, that I was able to overcome just to be here today.”

Williams doesn’t often become overpowered by someone other than her younger sister, Serena. But the 16th-seeded Vaidisova showed few nerves, other than playing a relatively safe point on her first match point, losing it when Williams hit a backhand volley. Vaidisova won it on No. 2 when a Williams forehand sailed well long.

Vaidisova looked shocked she had taken out Williams. This was someone she admired so much she used to play with the same racket Williams used. She thought she first saw Williams in person at the U.S. Open in 2004.

“I saw all of those big names around,” Vaidisova said.

And now she is one of them.

“No, not yet. But I’m working on it,” she said, smiling.

*

Adam Peterson, the former coach of Lindsay Davenport, will be coaching Shahar Peer, according to Israeli media. Peer, 19, had her big breakthrough at the French Open, pushing Hingis to three sets before losing in the fourth round.

Their first tournament together is scheduled to be the WTA event at Eastbourne, England, on grass, starting June 19.

*

At a glance

Tuesday at the French Open:

Men’s quarterfinals: No. 1 Roger Federer def. No. 12 Mario Ancic; No. 3 David Nalbandian def. No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko

* Women’s quarterfinals: No. 16 Nicole Vaidisova def. No. 11 Venus Williams, No. 2 Kim Clijsters def. No. 12 Martina Hingis, No. 5 Justine Henin-Hardenne def. No. 13 Anna-Lena Groenefeld, No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova def. No. 14 Dinara Safina.

* Today’s men’s quarterfinals: No. 2 Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic, No. 4 Ivan Ljubicic vs. Julien Benneteau.