Dementieva, Kuznetsova in all Russia clash

Russia's Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova will face each other in the semi-finals of Stuttgart's WTA tournament on Saturday after both came through Friday's quarter-finals.

While Dementieva struggled to see off France's Marion Bartoli in her quarter-final, Kuznetsova took just over an hour to beat Argentina's Gisela Dulko 6-3, 6-2 and will now play her compatriot for a place in Sunday's final.

"I played great today," beamed fifth-seed Kuznetsova.

"I was successful with my shots and I am getting better - it's great to be in the semi-finals."

The Russian pair have met each other nine times on the WTA tour with Kuznetsova leading the series 5-4.

Earlier, Olympic champion Dementieva booked her place in the last four with a hard-fought 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win over Bartoli.

The second-seeded Russian needed two hours and 17 minutes to see off Bartoli who fought her way back after a slow start to threaten the gold-medal winner from Beijing.

"It was my best match of the tournament so far, I feel like I am really playing much better," said Dementieva, ranked third in the world.

"Marion is a good player and she served well all game, it was an emotional match for both of us.

"I am pleased just to have got through it."

Having needed only 30 minutes to win the first set 6-2 with ease, Dementieva found she had a fight on her hands in the second when Bartoli, ranked 13th in the world, took the set 6-4 in 56 minutes.

But the French player faltered in the third when she was immediately broken as Dementieva powered into a 4-0 lead, only for Bartoli to come back to 4-3, but the Russian won the next two games to take the third 6-3.

In Friday's two remaining quarter-finals, third-seed Jelena Jankovic faces Italy's Flavia Pennetta while world number one Dinara Safina plays Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska.