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As four of the top 5 men in the world battle it out in the semi-finals of the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, the women's lineup is full of surprises. World no. 1 Dinara Safina kept up her end of the bargain elbowing her way through the draw to set up a meeting with Swiss veteran 30-year old Patty Schnyder. In the other semi-final we see the classic youth vs. experience battle as Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki takes on 29-year old Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo.

Dinara Safina, losing finalist at Stuttgart a couple of weeks ago (read more) and cham pion at Rome last week, put in her most impressive performance at Madrid this week sailing into the semifinals with a 6-4 6-3 victory over 24-year Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko.

Safina broke twice in the opening set, and though dropped her own serve once, did just enough to scrape through the set. The second set was a ding-dong affair with Bondarenko going 2-0 ahead before Safina won 4 games in a row to reverse the trend. Bondarenko broke back for 3-4 before Safina picked up the last couple of games to seal a place in the semis.

Safina a favourite to win her first Grand Slam going into the French Open next week was candid about her game, "Overall, I just put a lot of pressure on the players. I feel very confident here playing on clay courts and I can dictate the points and I can use my heavy shots here,"

Her opponent in the semis is a rejuvenated Patty Schnyder from Switzerland who lived for years in the shadow of Martina Hingis. The world No. 20 claimed her third top 10 scalp this week, taking out No.4 seed Jelena Jankovic in straight sets 7-6 (6), 6-3.

The ladies traded six breaks of serve in the opening set and were tied neck-to-neck at 6-6 in the breaker as well before a Schnyder winner followed by a Jankovic error handed her the first set.

Schnyder fell behind in the second set before breaking Jankovic thrice in the second set to take the match in one hour and 47 minutes.

Jelena Jankovic has had a really poor start to 2009 failing to win a tournament till date, and has fallen from the top of the ranking charts to her current position of no. 4.

Schnyder meanwhile is enjoying her renaissance, "I'm in the semis and I'm very happy to be able to play against Safina. I feel the conditions here are very good for me, I like fast courts and high bounces... so I'm not surprised to have done well here."

In the first quarterfinal of the day, Ponte Vedra Beach champion Caroline Wozniacki continued her excellent run of form that has seen her climb into the world's top 10 with a comprehensive 6-0, 6-4 victory over qualifier Vera Dushevina.

Wozniacki won the first nine games of the match to race to a 6-0 3-0 lead before Dushevina mounted a mini comeback. However, Wozniacki held on to her break of serve and closed out of the match with ease in 76 minutes.

The Danish teenager shrugged off the pressure of playing against some of her idols, "When I started on the tour, of course I did (feel nervous), because everything is new and you've only seen the players on TV," says the tournament's No.3 seed. "But once you start playing and have played against all the players, it just becomes another match with another opponent and it's about going in and trying to win. You don't really think about who's standing on the other side."

Wozniacki's opponent in the semi-final is former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo. Mauresmo made a mess of the first set dropping it 5-7 to World No. 38 Agnes Szavay before racing through the next two 6-1, 6-1.

"I was thinking a lot about my tennis the last two seasons because I was struggling so much and then it got to the mind, not knowing what to do exactly on the court," said the 29-year old veteran.

"Once you win a few matches you get the confidence back...things come more naturally. I'm happy that the decision I made at the end of last year has paid off and is paying off since the start of the year."

Results:

Singles
Dinara Safina (RUS) d. Alona Bondarenko (UKR) 6 4, 6 3
Patty Schnyder (SUI) d. Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 7 6(6), 6 3
Amelie Mauresmo (FRA) d. Agnes Szavay (HUN) 5 7, 6 1, 6 1
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Vera Dushevina (RUS) 6 0, 6 4

Doubles
C Black (ZIM)/L Huber (USA) d. S Stosur (AUS)/R Stubbs (AUS) 7 5, 7 6(1)
K Peschke (CZE)/L Raymond (USA) d. C Chuang (TPE)/S Mirza (IND) 7 6(4), 6 4

File Photograph: Porsche Stuttgart Open