Tennis-Open-Fit-again Stosur energised by semi-final run

By Pritha Sarkar

PARIS, June 3 (Reuters) - Twenty months after she could barely climb out of bed or even lift a racket, Samantha Stosur will be trying to become the first Australian woman in three decades to reach the French Open singles final.

The 25-year-old has led a charmed life over the past two weeks to reach the last four of a grand slam for the first time but things were very different in September 2007 when she was diagnosed with the energy-sapping illness Lyme's disease.

"I guess I wasn't really thinking about grand slams or winning tournaments or anything like that at that stage. It was more just trying to get healthy and leave my apartment, basically," Stosur said after beating Romanian teenager Sorana Cirstea on Wednesday.

"It was hard, but I always tried to stay positive. I always told myself I was gonna be back. I didn't know if that was really going to be the case, but I stayed as positive as I could."

The 30th seed began her journey back last May but until this week her achievements had been overshadowed by those of fellow Australian comeback artist Jelena Dokic.

But while Dokic's emotional run at this year's Australian Open stalled in the quarter-finals, Stosur has suddenly found herself under the spotlight by going one better.

She knocked out fourth seed Elena Dementieva in the third round and will be up against another Russian, world number seven Svetlana Kuznetsova, in Thursday's semi-finals.

"Over the last couple of years it's been pretty tough at times, obviously, but the French Open last year was my first, like, grand slam back after being out for nearly a year," said Stosur, who until this week was largely considered a doubles specialist.