Stosur rushes into the final after Schiavone is ushered through

Stosur demolished fourth seed Jelena Jankovic 6-1 6-2 in just an hour, shortly after Schiavone was gifted a place in tomorrow's showpiece when Elena Dementieva became the first woman to retire so late in the tournament.

Yesterday's women's semi-finals were the first in a grand slam since the 1979 Australian Open in which none of the competitors had previously won a major.

Jankovic finished runner-up at the US Open in 2008 and was playing in her sixth semi-final, while Stosur was in her second after losing to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova a year ago.

The Australian had spent almost two-and-a-half hours on court in her epic quarter-final victory over Serena Williams, the second modern great she had toppled in successive rounds after ending Justine Henin's six-year unbeaten run at Roland Garros.

Dementieva's shock retirement in the first semi-final had made fourth seed Jankovic a strong title favourite. But she was simply swatted aside in a first set Stosur dominated almost from start to finish.

Both women held their opening service games, but from there, the Australian took complete control.

She won five games in a row, breaking once with a superb inside-out forehand that typified her display and again when Jankovic netted.

But, having failed to hit a single winner, the Serb then reeled off three in one game at the start of the second set.

Indeed she took the first seven points to move to triple-break point, going 2-0 up at the second attempt.

However, from 40-15 up in the next, she handed Stosur the break back. Jankovic had three break points in game four but that was as good as it got as Stosur broke her to love with some scintillating tennis.

The Serb looked lost and her opponent duly broke again before reeling off her sixth straight game to seal victory.

Schiavone earlier became the first Italian woman through to a grand slam final after a tearful Dementieva dramatically retired after losing the first set 7-6 (7/3), the fifth seed unable to continue due, she later claimed, to a torn calf suffered in her second-round win over Anabel Medina Garrigues.

The 28-year-old had been a break up and seemingly in control of the match before surrendering that advantage as well as a 2-0 lead in the tie-break.

"I have a tear in my left calf, so it's very painful to even walk," said the Russian.

British No 2 Katie O'Brien, of Beverley, missed out on a place in the quarter-finals of the AEGON Trophy in Nottingham when she lost 7-6 6-2 to USA's Carly Gullickson.