Belgian World no. 3, Kim Clijsters downs Victoria Azarenka with a straight 6-3, 6-2 win in 85 minutes and moves into the semi finals of the Sydney International on Wednesday. Clijsters will face Allisa Kleybanova, who beat Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, on Thursday.
In the other semifinal s, China’s Li Na will take on Serbian Bojana Jovanovski after Jovanovski beat Flavia Pennetta in the quarter final.
With no Serena Williams in Mebourne, the matches have lost their original charm.
Del Potro falters:
In the men’s singles, former US champion Del Potro, who came back after injury, failed to make it to the next round , which was attributed to his lack of practice. The 22 year old Argentine declared that he was free from pain when he won his first match on Monday, but he was beaten by German Forian Mayer.
“Everything is tough after a long, long time. But if I’m here it’s because I want to play. I want to try again. That’s what I’m thinking every day. I don’t want to feel bad, you know. Last year was very bad, for me and now I’m okay. I’m in good shape… I lost, but I’m in the competition again.”, said the runner with great remorse.
Ferrer in last eight:
In the Auckland Open, David Ferrer will face the former champion Phillip Kohlschreiber on Thursday. Ferrer, the 2007 champion and current world no.7, took almost 2-1/2 hours to beat the German Tobias Kamke (3-6, 7-6[1], 6-4), while Kohlschreiber won over Spain’s Marcel Gronollers by 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
Tags: Allisa Kleybanova, Auckland Open, David Ferrer, Del Potro, Kim Clijsters, Sydney International, Tennis, Victoria Azarenka