Amelie Mauresmo
© AFP Gregg Wood

MELBOURNE (AFP) - Mauresmo crushed Switzerland's seventh seed Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-0 in under an hour to set up a showdown with second seed Kim Clijsters on Thursday.

The ease with which she swept past Schnyder and has performed in earlier rounds was the product of her 13 years on the Tour, she said.

Mauresmo said she was a more rounded and aggressive player than the one that made the final here in 1999 only to lose out to Martina Hingis.

"I think so. I'm using every part of my game much better now than seven years ago," she said.

"I'm much more in control of what I'm doing, knowing better how to use my weapons considering the opponent I have in front of me."

Asked if she could finally break her Grand Slam duck and win the final here on Saturday, the 26-year-old said: "Yeah, I think so."

Her emphatic win over Schnyder builds on the imposing form she has displayed since winning the season-ending WTA Tour Championship, which she said had given her the belief that she can retain the mental toughness on the big occasions.

"Well, I hope and I think it really put me in different conditions coming here in Australia, and I hope for the next Grand Slams I will play. I think it can help me," she said.

Schnyder made a stuttering start when her serve was broken by Mauresmo in the first game of the match, with the powerfully-built Frenchwoman using her single-handed backhand to outgun her opponent.

"That's what I wanted today, from the first point really making her play as much as I could, I did that very well at the beginning and felt my game was very effective," Mauresmo said.

Patty Schnyder
© AFP William West

The Swiss, who made the quarters here last year and the semis in 2004, managed to break back in the sixth game when Mauresmo's backhand went long.

But she was unable to prevent another break of serve in the next as the world number three gained confidence and left her stranded with a lob.

Schnyder struggled as Mauresmo continued to move her around the court with her accurate groundstrokes and lost the set when she was broken a third time, hitting a forehand long under pressure.

The world number eight attempted to regroup in the first game of the second but could only shrug her shoulders when Mauresmo came back from love-30 down to claim yet another break.

Mauresmo continued to dominate and the Schnyder cheer squad became muted when Mauresmo snatched another service game to race to a 4-0 lead.

She held serve then broke Schnyder for the sixth time to win the match.

"It's really one of the rare ones where there was no match at all. I mean, I was just off, and she was all over me," said Schnyder.

"I don't know really what happened to me. She just took advantage and didn't let it go."

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