For the first time two Russian women tennis players advanced to quarter-final of Grand Slam tournament

For the first time in the -history of tennis two women players from Russia qualified for the quarter-finals of a tennis tournament of the Grand Slam series.

On Tuesday Vera Zvonareva and Nadezhda Petrova will compete with each other for qualifying for a semi-final of the French Open on the courts of the Roland Garros centre in Paris. Before this year only two Russian women players succeeded in advancing to the semi-finals of such prestigious tournaments. In a semi-final of the Wimbledon tournament of 1997 Anna Kournikova lost to Martina Hingis from Switzerland and three years later Yelena Dementyeva failed to qualify for the final of the U.S. Open, having lost to Lindsay Davenport from the USA.

So, either Zvonareva, or Petrova will become the third Russian woman tennis player to make the list of the four best players at the tournaments of the Grand Slam series.

On her way to the quarter-final Zvonareva defeated Martina Muller from Germany, Denisa Chladkova from the Czech Republic, Spaniard Maria Sanchez-Lorenzo and American Venus Williams who was seeded third at the tournament.

As for Petrova, she eliminated three representatives of the USA - Monica Seles, Marissa Irvin and seventh-seeded Jennifer Capriati. Besides that, she beat Croatian Silvija Talaja.

The quarter-final match of the French Open between Russian players Vera Zvonareva and Nadezhda Petrova will be staged on the main court of the Roland Garros centre - Court Philippe Chetrier. The match will begin at 14.00 Moscow time.