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It was a bad day for the senior citizens on the women's tour as Amelie Mauresmo and Patty Schnyder with a combined age of 59 were beaten in straight sets by the charge of the young brigade as World No. 1 Dinara Safina and 19-year old Caroline Wozniacki earned a meeting in the final of the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open on Sunday.

(Please click here if you are looking for our report on the final)

Wozniacki, the no. 9 seed in the tournament, broke the Mauresmo serve straight off the bat to take a 1-0 lead. Mauresmo had 30-40 on Wozniacki's serve, but the Dane held on after a few deuces to consolidate the break.

Mauresmo raised her play, and rattled off three games in a row to go ahead 3-2. She broke Wozniacki again to serve for the set at 5-3, but a typical nervous display from the Frenchwoman allowed Wozniacki to bring the match back on serve.

Mauresmo had a couple of set points on the Wozniacki serve, but at 15-40 second serve Amelie pulled a forehand wide to let Wozniacki out of jail. Mauresmo then made three consecutive unforced errors and we were back on level peggings at 5-5.

Wozniacki then broke the Mauresmo serve and served for the set at 6-5, but with the pressure seemingly off her shoulders Amelie played her best tennis to break straight back. With nobody seemingly keen on winning that opening set, both girls would have been grateful that American James Henry Van Allen invented the tiebreak in 1965.

Wozniacki raced to a 4-0 lead in the breaker, and never looked back to win it 7-1.

Wozniacki saved a couple of break points in her opening game before breaking the Mauresmo serve to go 2-0 ahead, as the second set started off in similar fashion to the first. Mauresmo broke back in the third game, but that was the end of the joy for her, as she spurned 6 of 7 opportunities to break the Wozniacki serve, while the Danish teenager took both her chances to seal the match 7-6 (1), 6-3 and enter the biggest final of her career.

"Even though she had set points in the first set I was able to pull through and win," Wozniacki said. "I just tried to make her play my game. It wasn't easy. Amelie was trying to make me go out of my rhythm, slicing and playing a lot of topspin. I just tried to focus, make her run, not make too many errors and take my chances."

Joining her in the final is the world's best female tennis player at the moment, Dinara Safina. The Russian ace muscled her way past Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-2 in just 75 minutes.

Schnyder came into the match in good form on the back of victories over Nadia Petrova and Jelena Jankovic. Safina too was having a fantastic season, with back-to-back finals in Stuttgart and Rome, the latter which she won.

Safina started the match like a house on fire, breaking Schnyder in both of the Swiss Miss' opening service games to race to a 3-0 lead.

She however dropped serve immediately after as her power game became littered with unforced errors. Both players held on to their serve the rest of the way through the set, and Safina thanks to that early break was able to close it out 6-4.

The second set was all Safina, as the world no. 1 broke Schnyder twice again to book a place in the final.

"I've been feeling comfortable on the Tour since I became No.1. I can't complain," the Russian said. "I've played three finals in a row. It couldn't be better."

"When you keep winning you don't even feel that you are tired," Safina said at a news conference. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow's match and then I can have a little rest before the French Open."

"She (Wozniacki) is playing well and has had great results," Safina continued. "I've never played or practised with her so I'm just looking forward to it."

 

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