PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU
Julia Goerges continued her impressive run on clay when she brushed aside Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-2 on Friday to set up a Madrid Open semi-final against fourth seed Victoria Azarenka.
The rangy, big-serving German climbed to 27th in the rankings following her win over world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the Stuttgart final last month.
She followed that victory up by knocking the Dane out in the third round in Madrid on Thursday on her debut at the WTA premier event in the Spanish capital.
A break of the Pavlyuchenkova serve in the first set and two in the second were enough to put Goerges through to the semi-finals and sealed victory against the world number 21 on her first match point with a thumping forehand winner down the line.
"I think the match was probably closer than the scoreline suggests," Goerges, wearing shocking pink trousers and sporting turquoise painted nails, told a news conference.
Goerges played Azarenka in the last 16 in Stuttgart and lost the first set 6-4 before the world number five retired with a shoulder injury.
"I'll think about what I didn't do correctly there and I'll try to put that right tomorrow," the German said.
Belarussian Azarenka dropped her first set of the week against unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova before coming through 6-3 3-6 6-2 in the second quarter-final of the day.
The 21-year-old, who won back-to-back titles in Miami and Marbella at the end of March and beginning of April and prides herself on her aggressive playing style, can climb one place to number four in the rankings if she reaches Sunday's final.
"I am playing well and I am proud of that so just trying to keep going at the same level," she told a news conference.
"I had a really tough beginning of the season with a lot of expectations and pressure but I guess I learned how to deal with that," she added.
Goerges and Azarenka were joined in the last four by Li Na of China, losing finalist at this Australian Open.
The sixth seed did not allow herself to be put off by Bethanie Mattek-Sands's striking attire and battled past the unseeded American 6-4 3-6 6-4.
Mattek-Sands has been playing her matches in Madrid clad in knee-high black socks and with black patches painted underneath her eyes American Football-style.
Sixteenth-seeded Czech Petra Kvitova takes on Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in Friday's remaining quarter-final.