Mauresmo to face Serena in semis

Fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo earned a semi-final clash with defending champion Serena Williams after battling to a three-set victory against Paola Suarez.

The 24-year-old Frenchwoman secured her second appearance in the last four at Wimbledon with a 6-0 5-7 6-1 win against the Argentinian on court one.

Ninth seed Suarez played a combined six sets for her singles and doubles matches yesterday and struggled to get out of the starting blocks today.

Mauresmo went on the attack immediately, charging to the net at every opportunity in the opening game which she took to love.

The world number four broke serve immediately after she skied a baseline return at 30-40 only for Suarez to send wide a high backhand.

Mauresmo held serve and broke again when her opponent overhit a forehand to take a commanding 4-0 lead.

French Open semi-finalist Suarez earned two separate break points in the fifth game only for Mauresmo to save the first with a volley and then produce a big serve before holding with her third ace.

And Mauresmo broke again with a smart volley to take the set in just 22 minutes after an exciting exchange at the net.

Suarez finally broke her duck on her opening service game to square the second set at 1-1 much to the relief of a quiet crowd.

The next four games went with serve, but Suarez gained a foothold in the match in the seventh.

Mauresmo saved a couple of break points with volleys at the net only for Suarez to create another with a forehand to the corner before taking a 4-3 lead.

Her advantage lasted just a couple of minutes as her second double fault of the eighth game gave Mauresmo break-back point which she took when Suarez netted a forehand.

But Suarez was starting to rise to the occasion and broke again in the 11th game to leave her serving to level the match.

The 28-year-old needed to save a break point before finally taking the set 7-5 when Mauresmo could only net a service return.

Mauresmo looked to be in trouble at the start of the decider at 30-40, but she recovered to hold serve against an opponent growing in confidence.

But Mauresmo took control despite both players dropping serve when she broke again in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead.

She held serve comfortably and broke the world number 11 again when Suarez’s forehand clipped the net and drifted wide to leave Mauresmo serving for the match.

Suarez saved one match point but on the second she could only produce a weak service return which Mauresmo put away with aplomb to secure victory in one hour 42 minutes.