Kim still in as seeds fail to blossom

Heavy hitter ... Kim Clijsters hammers a forehand during her Sydney International win over Victoria Azarenka last night. Photo: Dallas Kilponen






SYDNEY Olympic Park is fast becoming a graveyard for
highly-fancied players but Kim Clijsters has so far evaded the carnage.
Of the leading seven women's seeds, the Belgian is the only one
remaining in the last four. She last night moved closer towards a title
that appears hers for the taking with a straight-sets quarter-final
win over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

A star-studded women's line-up has not quite delivered as
Sydney International organisers might have envisaged. Their best-case
scenario would have included Samantha Stosur and fellow seeds Caroline
Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Jelena Jankovic and Francesca Schiavone
fighting it out in the latter stages.

Instead, none of the aforementioned quintet reached even
the quarter-final stage, leaving Clijsters as the lone survivor of the
favourites.


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Watchful ... Li Na is all concentration in her three-set battle with Svetlana Kuznetsova at Homebush Bay yesterday. Photo: AP





The 2003 and 2007 champion will have shortened even
further with a 6-3 6-2 defeat of seventh seed Azarenka, whose
vulnerability on serve was exposed expertly by Clijsters in windy
conditions.

Clijsters, though, is not one to get ahead of herself and
brushed off suggestions she would now breeze to her third Sydney
title. "

''There is still a lot of players that are very tough to
beat,'' Clijsters said. ''You know my next opponent … [Dominika]
Cibulkova, I don't think I've ever played her but I've lost to [Alisa]
Kleybanova in Indian Wells last year. I had some really tough matches
with Na Li in the past. Every match is tough. All the big names are out
but there really are a lot of good players as well."

Clijsters emerged on top from a first set in which
serving was not exactly the winner. Five times the returning player
prevailed, with Clijsters simply managing to take one more break as
both players compiled hefty unforced error counts.

On early evidence the second set appeared to be going a
similar way to the first as Clijsters broke Azarenka's serve again and
then found herself 0-40 down in the fourth game. However, she dug deep
to save four break points and then reaffirmed her grip on the match by
taking advantage as Azarenka again sustained a case of the wobbles on
serve. From 5-2 up Clijsters it was always going to be a formality and,
despite taking her time, she finished off the 21-year-old with her
first match point.

Earlier the Chinese eighth seed Li Na survived a marathon
battle against Svetlana Kuznetsova to progress to the semi-finals with
a 3-6 7-6 (4) 6-3 win.

It was a result to lament for the Russian, who beat
Australian hope Samantha Stosur on Tuesday. Having led for the majority
of the match Kuznetsova was headed for her second major scalp in two
days as she held a set and 5-3 advantage. However, she was ultimately
undone by fatigue and a succession of unforced errors.

Li's semi-final opponent is the Serbian qualifier Bojana
Jovanovski, who continued her giant-killing run with a 6-4 6-1 victory
against Italian veteran Flavia Pennetta. Jovanovski only turned 19 last
month and is ranked No.77 in the world but in humid conditions
Pennetta had no answer.