Former world number one Amelie Mauresmo and soon-to-become a Top 10 member Caroline Wozniacki will meet in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open.

Mauresmo advanced to the final four after fighting back from a set down to beat Agnes Szavay 5-7 6-1 6-1. In the third set, Mauresmo broke Szavay’s serve in the first, third and seventh game.

Earlier on Friday, ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki, who will become the first Danish woman to crack the Top 10, defeated Vera Dushevina 6-0 6-4.

Mauresmo and Wozniacki have never clashed so far, so we’ll watch their first career meeting.

In the other semifinal, world No.1 Dinara Safina, who beat Alona Bondarenko 6-4 6-3, will face the winner of the quarterfinal between fourth seed Jelena Jankovic and Patty Schnyder. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Top seed and world No.1 Dinara Safina fought off a gutsy comeback from Lucie Safarova to beat the Czech 6-0 4-6 6-3. Safina raced through the first set, but stumbled in the second to twice lose her serve. In the decider the Russian made a crucial break in the sixth game and later wrapped up the win on the second match point.

Safina will play Alona Bondarenko in the quarterfinals. Bondarenko, who had upset Svetlana Kuznetsova in the previous round, defeated Anna Chakvetadze 6-0 2-6 6-3. The former world No.5 Chakvetadze still hasn’t reached any quarterfinals in 2009.

Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic swept past qualifier Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open where she’ll play Patty Schnyder. Jankovic’s serve was broken two times during the third-round match, but still, she lost only four games to Vesnina.

Seventh-seeded Victoria Azarenka fell to Agnes Szavay 4-6 6-2 6-2 in the third round. Szavay will next face Amelie Mauresmo, who booked her place in the quarters yesterday, along with Vera Dushevina who will play Caroline Wozniacki, the winner over Alisa Kleybanova in their today’s encounter, with the score 6-2 6-2. By winning the match, Wozniacki will crack the Top 10. (photo by our reader Elisa)

Russian sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova exited the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open in the second round already, and compatriots Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova followed her shortly after on Wednesday, in the third round though.

Eighth seed Nadia Petrova lost to unseeded Patty Schnyder at the Premier-level claycourt event. Petrova fought hard, forced and won the second-set tiebreak and even rallied from 4-1 down in the third set, but the Swiss eventually won 6-4 6-7(2) 7-6(5).

Third seed Elena Dementieva took the first set 6-1, but Amelie Mauresmo rallied back to beat the world No.5 1-6 6-4 6-2. The Frenchwoman, who had upset China’s seed No.15 Zheng Jie en route to the third-round encounter with Dementieva, now has a 10-6 career record against the Russian.

Not all Russian players lost on Wednesday: world No.1 Dinara Safina defeated Li Na 6-3 7-6(2), while qualifier Vera Dushevina beat Francesca Schiavone 6-3 4-6 6-2. (photo by our reader Jacob)

Svetlana Kuznetsova’s recent excellent results have come to a halt with a 6-3 6-2 defeat to Alona Bondarenko in the second round of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open.

This is Bondarenko’s third victory over Kuznetsova, while Kuznetsova has won only one of their career meetings. The two have clashed on claycourts three times, and each time the Ukrainian was victorious.

Kuznetsova, seeded sixth in Madrid, won Stuttgart two weeks ago, and was runner-up last week in Rome.

The 46th-ranked Bondarenko will next play Anna Chakvetadze.

Additional info: The world No.7 Kuznetsova has a new coach, former top-ranked doubles player and current Fed Cup coach Larisa Savchenko, who will help her during the claycourt season. Savchenko seems to have a good idea when to let Kuznetsova go her own way.

"She's very easy-going and relaxed and we have great communication," said the 23-year-old Kuznetsova.

"She tells me little things and it helps me find my way out. For me, external opinions help, but it doesn't have to be pushy and bring me down." (photo by our reader Elisa)

Fifth seed and world number three Venus Williams went down to Alisa Kleybanova 6-3 3-6 7-5 in the second round of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic also played on Tuesday, but the Serb was victorious against world number 39 Daniela Hantuchova.

The 19- year-old Kleybanova fired seven aces and broke Williams' serve seven times in the match that lasted two hours and 12 minutes. The world No.26 Kleybanova, who is yet to win a WTA singles title, is now 1-1 with Williams in head-to-head statistics.

Remember? The Russian scored her first Top 10 win at this year’s Australian Open by upsetting Ana Ivanovic.

Jankovic beat Hantuchova 7-5 6-2. The Slovak was a tough opponent in the first set, but failed to convert any of seven break points in the second. Also advancing was seed No.9 Caroline Wozniacki, who had little trouble in seeing off Varvara Lepchenko 6-3 6-1.

Besides Venus Williams, one more seed fell on Tuesday: No.15 seed Zheng Jie lost 6-2 7-5 to Amelie Mauresmo in the second round. (photo by our reader Bobby)