Dinara Safina, who is trying to follow in her brother's footsteps and win her first Grand Slam title at a US Open, defeated Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Russian sixth seed Safina, who reached her first Grand Slam final earlier this year at the French Open, says winning the US Open would put a fitting exclamation point on her season. “It's great,” Safina said. “I'm getting closer to reaching the same thing as my brother. I just hope that one day I can have the same title.” Big brother Marat Safin won the US Open men's title in 2000. Safina, 22, who will face either Serena or Venus Williams in the semifinals, continued her domination of Pennetta, raising her career record over the Italian to 5-0. Wednesday's win on the main Arthur Ashe Stadium was also a repeat of this season's Los Angeles final which Safina won in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. The six-foot-one Safina needed just 71 minutes to reach her first US Open semifinal in seven tries as she closed out the match on her second match point when Pennetta hit a backhand long. On Monday, an exhausted Safina had to be coaxed onto the court by her coach Zeljko Krajan to play her fourth round match against Anna-Lena Groenefeld. She was in a much better frame of mind on Wednesday. “Finally I am happy with myself because I did what I had to do,” Safina said. “I was aggressive on the court. I was following balls every time. Today I finally played my game.” Safina has had a breakthrough season in 2008, winning three titles and reaching the final of six of her past seven tournaments, including a runners-up spot at the Beijing Olympics. “It's tough to beat someone when they don't make mistakes and make a lot of winners,” Pennetta said. “I was fighting until the final. For me it was very important to just stay in there and try until the last point.” On Tuesday, the iron will of Roger Federer carried him into the quarterfinals. In a match that started under sunny skies but ended under floodlights, Russia's Igor Andreev exposed Federer's vulnerable side before the Swiss protected his four-year New York reign with a compelling 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 triumph. “It was a tough match, the wind was changing with either side, it went from day to night session which is never easy. It was tough conditions but I'm happy we put on a good show,” a relieved Federer summed up courtside after his 3-1/2 hour win. Former champion Andy Roddick dashed into the quarters by beating Chilean 11th seed Fernando Gonzalez 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. In the women's seciton, second seed Jelena Jankovic stormed into the semifinals. Jankovic was shunted off the main showcourt but she took it in stride and eased to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Austrian Sybille Bammer. There was nothing easy about Federer's win though. From the word go, it was clear the second seed would be battling for survival when he meekly surrendered his serve in the opening game. Armed with a deadly serve and an equally lethal forehand, Andreev had Federer running scared. With a never-ending stream of errors flying off Federer's racket, an incredulous John McEnroe asked while commentating on the match: “Is this an imposter we are seeing?” Unable to conjure his usual magic from the baseline, Federer shouted and yelled in frustration. It was only the third time in 46 matches at the US Open, and the first since 2004, that Federer had become embroiled in a five
