Hingis and Safina on course for Gold Coast final

PERTH, Australia, Jan 4 (Reuters) Martina Hingis and Dinara Safina stayed on course for a meeting in the final of the Australian women's hardcourt tennis championships after comfortable wins in their quarter-finals today.

Top-seeded Swiss Hingis, the world number seven, continued her imperious run through the draw with a 6-3 6-1 destruction of Colombia's Catalina Castano, and has lost just seven games in her three matches so far.

Reaching the semi-final equals her performance of 12 months ago when her entry into the tournament marked the start of her full-time comeback after a three-year absence from the tour.

Hingis will face Tathiana Garbin for a place in the final after the 38th-ranked Italian beat Russia's Elena Vesnina 7-5 6-2.

Third seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia fell in three sets to Israel's Shahar Peer 5-7 6-4 6-4 and the fifth seed now faces Safina after the Russian ended hopes of a home victor by disposing of Samantha Stosur.

The world number 11 saved two set points in the opener before holding on to force the tiebreak, and a pumped up Safina forced an error volley from Stosur for a crucial mini-break.

''She likes to show her emotion and that's something you can try and take advantage of a little bit,'' said the defeated Stosur, the world number 29.

''But she's a very good player so I don't know if, when she gets angry, it fires her up and she hits the ball a little bit harder.'' REUTERS SAM VV1754