Amelie Mauresmo moved a step nearer to winning her first tournament back from an injury layoff when she eased to a 6-2 6-4 win over American Vania King in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open on Friday. The former world number one coughed up seven double-faults but was still too strong for King as she advanced to a semi-final against fellow Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy, a 7-6 7-5 winner over sixth seed Aleksandra Wosniak.
Mauresmo is playing in her first event since picking up a thigh injury at Wimbledon and has slipped to 35th in the rankings. However, King was unable to take advantage of her opponent's errant serving and Mauresmo ran out an easy winner in one hour, 18 minutes. Dechy's surprise win over Canada's Wozniak put her into a semi-final for the first time this year.
Second seed Nadia Petrova will play number three seed Maria Kirilenko in an all-Russian clash in the second semi-final. Petrova cruised past American wildcard Liliah Osterloh 6-2 6-3 but Kirilenko had to struggle before overcoming Germany's Sabine Lisicki 6-2 1-6 6-1.