Tennis-Open-Mauresmo whips Safina to gain semi-final berth

NEW YORK, Sep 6 (Reuters) Top seed Amelie Mauresmo today moved closer to her first U S Open title by whipping error-prone Dinara Safina 6-2 6-3 in the quarter-finals.

World number one Mauresmo looked a little shaky on her serve in the opening set but settled down to win the match easily in 62 minutes.

The Frenchwoman committed only 11 unforced errors to reach the semis in New York for a second time.

Though she broke Mauresmo's serve twice in the opening set, 12th seeded Safina had 15 unforced errors and was broken four times.

Mauresmo was on cruise control in the second set, firing 10 winners while never losing serve.

An emotional Safina sprayed the ball and the Russian's mishits were often followed by her whacking her racket on the court or shaking her head in disgust.

Mauresmo will face third seed Maria Sharapova or France's Tatiana Golovin in the semi-finals.

REUTERS SBA HT2318