MOSCOW, July 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Dinara Safina trounced Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3 6-1 in the Los Angles Classic quarter-finals, and will meet top-seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the semis on Saturday evening.
Safina, seeded fourth, called her straight-sets victory on Friday over eighth-seed Azarenka "the best match I ever played."
Jankovic defeated ninth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia 7-5, 6-4, and will rise to the top of the WTA rankings if she wins the championship.
The other semi-final will be between Italy's Flavia Pennetta, seeded 10th, and Bethanie Mattek of the U.S., who is unseeded and ranked 59th in the world.