Stosur stunned by recovery

Samantha Stosur admits she never could have imagined she would reach a grand slam final when she was battling the illness that might have ended her career.

The seventh seed's stunning success in Paris is a world away from three years ago, when she was struck down for 10 months by Lyme disease.

"When I was out, I never let myself doubt the fact that I would return," she said. "Obviously, I had no idea what was going to happen."

Stosur's remarkable run at the French Open, which has already seen her overcome Justine Henin and Venus Williams, got even better on Thursday when she dumped out yet another former world number one, demolishing Jelena Jankovic 6-1 6-2 in an hour on Philippe Chatrier Court.

She added: "I'd never wish to go through any of that ever again. But, in hindsight, who knows what it actually did for me?

"Since then, I've had the best time of my career, best results, and I'm playing the best.

"So maybe, looking back, taking all that time out was a good thing.

"But, obviously, when I was in it, I didn't see it like that at all.

"I think it definitely gave me a new perspective on what I was able to do and how much I love playing and how much I missed it.

"So without walking away, maybe I wouldn't have seen that and then really thought, 'Okay, when I come back I'm going to make the most of every chance every day and see how good I can get and just try and become the best player I could be'."