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.
"From last year to this year, I just can't compare it. I think I've just improved so much on the court, and I'm just really pleased that now, this week, everything has kind of come together.
"Last year I was still really careful about what it was doing and wasn't sure how much to do and not to do and all that kind of thing. Now, this year, it's just fantastic."
Wendy Turnbull was the last Australian woman to reach the French Open final in 1979.
