Dolphin GC save state freeze problem

Hey guys, so I am currently playing Pokemon XD gale of darkness on the GC dolphin emulator. I rely solely on the emulator's save states (not the in-game saves) to continue my progress. Recently, as I was navigating to the save state dropdown menu, the game itself froze without my knowing, and i saved the game in a frozen state. When i tried resetting the game to the save state, I am unable to get there as the screen freezes itself unless i undo the save state (which brings me back to the start menu). I do not want to us my last in-game save (which was 20 levels ago), plus I have progressed much in those 20 levels. Any ideas on how to get the save state back?

Thanks