SAN DIEGO : Second-seeded Maria Sharapova used her strong serve to defeat Patty Schnyder 7-5, 6-4 and advance to the final of the Acura Classic here on Saturday.

The second game of the second set, which Sharapova won, lasted 24 points.

The Russian will meet top-seeded Kim Clijsters who beat Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 7-6(0) in the other semifinal. Clijsters, ranked No. 2, has won 24 consecutive matches in hard court tournaments. ``I felt pretty good,'' said Clijsters, who has been battling a back ailment. ``I felt like I was seeing the ball better than (on Friday). I think I was sharper."

Clijsters rolled through the first set, returning almost all of Vaidisova's shots and outslugging her opponent. The Belgian broke Vaidisova's serve in the first game of the match and again in the fifth game to take a 4-1 lead.

However, after the 17-year-old Vaidisova twice lost her serve to start the second set and fell behind 3-0, she became the aggressor. The Czech broke Clijsters in the fourth game after missing her first four chances to break. Vaidisova went on to break Clijsters in her next two service games too to make it 4-4.

Each player held serve twice to force a tie-breaker where the seventh-seeded Vaidisova fell apart. She double-faulted on the first point, missed a forehand return into the net and committed four straight unforced errors. The match ended when Vaidisova hit a backhand into the net.

Tough outing

At Sopot (Poland), top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Florian Mayer of Germany 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-4 on Sunday to win the Prokom Open.

The 25-year-old Russian led 5-1 in the second set before letting the German back into the match. With Mayer serving at 5-3 in the second, Davydenko wasted three match points. Mayer held serve and picked up a break to force a third set.

The players then traded breaks early in the third. Serving at 4-4, Mayer pushed a two-handed backhand long to give Davydenko the break.

The Russian, ranked sixth in the world, then served out the match to claim his second title of 2006.

At Washington, in the semifinals, Tursunov saved two break points in the opening game for a 1-0 lead before Murray took control, winning eight of the next nine points to start the streak that carried him to a 5-1 advantage.

Tursunov hit three winners to break Murray for a 4-2 lead in the second set, then held for 5-2. But he couldn't win another game and was broken when he served for the set at 5-3 — slipping as he tried to get to a backhand passing winner on a 20-stroke exchange on break point — and again when Murray hit a backhand winner to go up 6-5.

The results:

At San Diego (WTA Acura Classic): Semifinals: Maria Sharapova bt Patty Schnyder 7-5, 6-4; Kim Clijsters bt Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 7-6(0).

At Washington (ATP Legg Mason Classic): Semifinals: Arnaud Clement bt Marat Safin 7-6(5), 7-6(4); Andy Murray vs Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 7-5.

At Sopot (ATP Prokom Open): Final: Nikolay Davydenko bt Florian Mayer 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-4. Semifinals: Nikolay Davydenko bt Filippo Volandri 6-2, 6-4; Florian Mayer bt Agustin Calleri 6-2, 4-3, Calleri retd. — Agencies

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