Simona Halep of Romania reacts after winning her women's quarterfinal match against Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia at French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris June 4, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Earlier, No 4 Simona Halep of Romania and No 28 Andrea Petkovic of Germany both moved into the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. Thursday's other women's semifinal will be 2012 champion Maria Sharapova against 18th-seeded Eugenie Bouchard of Canada.

Halep beat 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-2, and Petkovic defeated 2012 runner-up Sara Errani by that very same score.

A year ago, Halep arrived at Roland Garros ranked 57th. But over the past 13 months, she's won seven titles. Petkovic, meanwhile, is enjoying a resurgence.

She made it to the top 10 in 2011, when she was the only woman to reach three major quarterfinals (although she went 0-3). In late 2012, she hurt her right knee, and her ranking plummeted to 177th last year. But she's worked her way back, and after eliminating Errani, the gregarious Petkovic kissed her racket - something she said she'd never done before.

"I don't know what happened to me. I was just overwhelmed by emotion," Petkovic said. "I had no boy to kiss, so I kissed my racket, right?"