MIAMI, March 31: World number one Amelie Mauresmo’s bid to reach her first Nasdaq-100 Open final disintegrated after she was hammered 6-1 6-4 in the semis by Svetlana Kuznetsova on Thursday.

Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion, earned her second victory in a month over the Frenchwoman following her success in Dubai.

The scenario was equally depressing for 2004 men’s champion Andy Roddick.

The fourth-seeded American went out at the quarter-final stage in a deluge of 49 unforced errors against Spain’s David Ferrer, who drew a warning for receiving coaching from the sidelines.

Ferrer produced a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory to prolong the career crisis for former world number one Roddick, who won his last title in October.

Roger Federer was facing American ninth seed James Blake in a later match for the right to play Ferrer, now 10-6 on hardcourt in 2006.

Kuznetsova will face either fellow Russian and fourth seed Maria Sharapova or French teenager Tatiana Golovin in the final.

Kuznetsova capitalised on 29 unforced errors from the Australian Open champion, who was erratic throughout the 78-minute contest.

The Russian struck 33 winners and denied Mauresmo three second-set break chances as the top seed struggled to get into the contest.

Mauresmo saved two match points before suffering only her fourth defeat of the season.

“Dubai gave me a lot of confidence,” Kuznetsova told reporters after narrowing Mauresmo’s head-to-head advantage to 4-2.

“I started well, hung in and had my chances. I’m very excited with how I played today. I was a bit nervous. But I believed in myself, I did my job.”

Roddick was unable to get past 11th seed Ferrer, who had played six hours of tennis to reach the last eight. Ferrer, second in the Spanish table behind Rafael Nadal, reached his second consecutive Miami semi-final.

The Spaniard kept Roddick under pressure, losing a break in the final set but getting it back before going through on a final Roddick return into the net.

Results:

Women (semisfinals)

Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Amelie Mauresmo 6-1, 6-4; Maria Sharapova bt Tatiana Golovin 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 4-3 retired

Men (quarterfinals)

Roger Federer bt James Blake 7-6 (7/2), 6-4; David Ferrer bt Andy Roddick 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.—Agencies