Mauresmo through in Florida

Mauresmo's hot run continues in Florida

Bausch & Lomb Championships, Florida:
A Mauresmo (Fra) bt A Sanchez-Vicario (Spa) 6-3 6-2

France's Amelie Mauresmo stretched her win streak to 13 matches on Saturday, defeating Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 6-3 6-2 to reach the Bausch & Lomb WTA clay court final.

The sixth seed, who won titles in February at Paris and Nice, will face fourth seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa in Sunday's final at the £393,000 event.

Mauresmo advanced to the semi-finals by walkover when third seed Elena Dementieva of Russia defaulted with a foot injury.

Sanchez, a two-time winner here, had upset world No. 1 Martina Hingis in the quarter-finals.

Third straight title

"I know she likes to get into a rhythm, and I just wanted to mix it up with a variation of spins," Mauresmo said.

"I varied it a lot. I know she didn't like that."

Seventh-seeded Sanchez-Vicario played five sets on Friday - two in singles and three in teaming with Martina Navratilova in doubles - and did not look as sharp as she did in her upset victory over Hingis.

The loss halted a seven-match winning streak for Sanchez-Vicario that included just her second win over Hingis in 17 tries.

Coetzer outlasted unseeded Russian Nadia Petrova 4-6 7-5 6-4.

Mauresmo is seeking her third straight tournament win. She won in Paris and Nice on carpet in February, before taking nearly two months off to prepare for the clay-court season.

She is 19-1 this season. With a victory in the final, she will move back into the world's top 10 after struggling in 2000 with back injuries.