On Day 12, the women take over Roland Garros playing both their semifinals. Essential Tennis Tour News has been focusing on the men’s draw, but since the men are taking a day off, let’s take a peek on the women’s tour.

Dinara Safina played diminuitive Dominika Cibulkova, the 20th seed, in the semifinals. Cibulkova demolished Maria Sharapova who had been off the tour for months, and played quite well to reach the quarterfinals. Sharapova barely avoided getting double-bageled by Cibulkova and won 2 games. But Cibulkova still had a very comfortable 6-0, 6-2 win.

Women’s tennis is suffering from a lack of a dominant world number 1. The men’s side has enjoyed the long reign of Roger Federer followed by the longish reign of Rafael Nadal. Meanwhile, players like Serena, Ana Ivanovic, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic have all had some time at number 1. The resulting merry-go-round has lead to number 1’s without Grand Slam majors to their credit.

Dinara Safina, whose rise to number 1, is actually shockingly remarkable, given her obscure status a year ago when she made the French final losing to Ana Ivanovic. Her success indirectly lead number 1, Justine Henin, to announce her retirement prior to the 2008 French, even though she would have been favored to win the title for her fourth chance.

After getting crushed by Serena Williams in the Australian Open, Safina has worked hard to establish herself as a legitimate number 1, and this means winning a title, preferably the French. Safina did her job. Unlike the marathon match against Victoria Azarenka, Safina had a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over Cibulkova. Cibulkova, who is only 5’3″, showed that she can still hit a mean ball, but she didn’t do enough to prevent Safina from reaching her second consecutive French final.

In the other semifinals, Svetlana “Kuzy” Kuznetsova is looking to reach her second French finals. She lost to Justine Henin in 2006, but had a very solid clay court season coming into the French. Kuznetsova will play the unheralded Samantha Stosur of Australia. Known primarily as a doubles specialist, Stosur has been focusing on her singles lately. A year ago, she was just returning back to the tour after suffering a bout with Lyme disease that left her debilitated as she worked through recovery.

The two have only met once, many years ago, which Kuznetsova won. Stosur feels the match will have little impact in their match today. She’ll look to use her powerful serve and forehand to engineer another upset, and let her reach her first Grand Slam singles final. Stosur has yet to win a singles title on the WTA.

…and now, back to the men.

Of the remaining players, Federer is now 26-1 against the field that now includes del Potro, his next opponent, Gonzalez and Soderling, who are playing in the other semifinals. del Potro’s rise to number 5 in the world has to be nearly as significant as Djokovic’s rise to number 3 in 2007.

del Potro has only dropped one set, that to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in five matches played. He’s playing in first semifinals at a major. The tall Argentine is a big server hitting as hard as players like Soderling and Roddick.

Although a talented player, del Potro has yet to win a set from Roger Federer. He was humiliated in the Australian Open when Roger Federer took two sets at love. Federer had a comfortable win, 6-3, 6-4 in Madrid. Basically, if Roger plays reasonably well, and he generally plays better as the tournament goes longer, he should be favored over del Potro. This isn’t to say del Potro can’t give Federer trouble, but that so far, Roger has felt pretty confident playing him.

In the other half, can Robin Soderling pull a rabbit out of the hat again? Against Davydenko, Soderling powered to a shockingly easy win. Although surprising, Soderling has a winning record against Davydenko and has beaten him twice on clay. One man he doesn’t have a winning record against is his semifinal opponent, Fernando Gonzalez.

Gonzalez used his formidable forehand, perhaps the best in the business, to take Andy Murray out in four sets. When Gonzo is feeling good about his forehand, he can hit winners from anywhere. Only Nadal and Federer seem capable of diffusing his powerful shots. However, Gonzalez has lacked the consistency to play at the very top of the men’s game. He’s worked to shore up his weakness, which is his backhand, where’s he’s likely as not to slice when he’s in trouble.

Soderling has remained remarkably calm, and has the kind of firepower off the ground to bother anyone. However, Gonzalez is no chump when it comes to hitting. Gonzalez has won their last five meetings, and he should be favored to win. If Soderling serves well, this could be an entertaining match.

Finally, Federer. It bears repeating. This is Roger Federer’s 20th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. This record speaks both to his health and his dominance. Consider 2008, a down year for Roger, where he lost his Wimbledon crown and his number 1 ranking. Federer still reached the semis of the Australian Open, the finals at the French, the finals at Wimbledon, and won the US Open. For anyone else, that would have been an incredible year. And even with all that, Federer still lost his number 1 ranking.

This year is clearly Federer’s best chance yet. He still doesn’t have a easy path to the final, but who does at this stage of a Grand Slam? The talented Frenchman, who gave Roger trouble in last year’s semifinal, showed that he has yet to fulfill his prodigious talent. Federer found ways to befuddle Monfils into errors. del Potro is going to be a step up in quality of opponent, but he’s not playing Djokovic.

Federer hasn’t had a great French Open run, but he’s showed flashes of playing well, and he’s finished strong, one thing that had hurt him in various losses to Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray. Indeed, his pattern has reversed. Normally, Fed comes out firing to a big lead, and then fritters it away. Lately, he’s had problems getting started, but won going away. This almost got him into huge trouble against Haas. Against, Monfils, Federer finally won the first set, which lead to a comfortable two break second set, and then got a key break in the third.

In interviews afterwards, Roger noted that he was nervous leading up to the Monfils match. Once he reached the court, it was fine. Experience, he said, in the later rounds of Grand Slam events would carry him through. Once he won the first set, it allowed him to relax and hit. Roger gets into moods with certain players where he feels he can just relax and hit. del Potro should be one of those players.

As an amusing side note, interviewers have asked del Potro where his name comes from. They seem confused about its origin. del Potro, for his part, has no idea where the name originates.

So tomorrow, the men’s semifinals. Be there!