'Moving' Bartoli frustrated Kuznetsova

Svetlana Kuznetsova admitted it was "weird and frustrating" to take on hyper-active Marion Bartoli after the unorthodox French player won their Roland Garros quarter final on Tuesday.

Bartoli, a bundle of permanent nervous energy, who leaps back and forth on the baseline and takes practice swings while her opponent is winding up into her serve, reached her first French Open semi final with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 win.

But 2009 champion Kuznetsova was bamboozled by the constant movement on the other side of the net.

"It's weird. I just try not to think about it but it's a little bit hard, a bit frustrating when you serve and you look at the opponent and she's swinging the racquet," said Kuznetsova.

"But it's not the reason I lost. I had a horrible match."

However, the 25-year-old Russian said she felt Bartoli, the first Frenchwoman in the semi finals since Mary Pierce in 2005, was fortunate.

"I think she was lucky. She hit so many lines while my balls were going three millimetres, four millimetres out. For me today on the court it was the worst dream it was worse than the worst dream"

Bartoli defended her strange habit.

"It's my way of staying focused," she explained. "It's to release the pressure of the scoreboard. Clay is not my best surface so I need to keep being proactive."