Belgian triple Grand Slam-winner Kim Clijsters beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) on Wednesday to reach her sixth Australian Open semifinal, as she targets a maiden title at Melbourne Park.
The tournament favourite and reigning US Open champion will now play second-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva for a place in Saturday’s final.
Clijsters overcame a high mistake rate to see off Poland’s Radwanska, who played a limited game but stayed in the match with some scrambling defence, taking advantage of the Belgian’s 37 unforced errors.
Clijsters lost her serve twice in the first set, but countered that by breaking Radwanska four times to take the opener in 29 minutes.
Her high error rate continued in the second set as she struggled to crack the determined Radwanska.
‘Heavy in the legs’
Clijsters stepped up in the sixth game to break the Pole, but promptly lost her own serve to immediately give up the advantage.
An out-of-sorts Clijsters then lost her serve a second time and faced a set point, before breaking back on her fourth opportunity and holding to go to 6-5.
Radwanska forced a tiebreak but couldn’t stay with Clijsters, who closed the set and the match out 7/4.
The 28-year-old conceded she had struggled during the match.
“I didn’t feel that great,” she said. “I felt heavy in the legs — I felt tired out there but I just hung in there.”
Czech express runs out of steam
Meanwhile, Czech starlet Petra Kvitova on Tuesday said her Australian Open quarterfinal against Vera Zvonareva was simply a match too far, as her nine-match winning streak ground to a halt.
Kvitova (20) was disappointing against the Russian world number two, who won 6-2, 6-4. Kvitova quickly lost the first set and cracked while trying to stay in the match.
The Czech had won nine matches leading up to the quarterfinals, including the season-opening Brisbane International.
But she said that run of consecutive matches had eventually taken its toll.
“I don’t think I was nervous,” she said. “But I was little tired. It’s 10 matches in a row so it was tough.”
The tall left-hander, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2010, will now break into the top 20 for the first time following the Australian Open, becoming the first Czech player since Nicole Vaidisova in August 2008 to do so.
She said her success in Australia would stand her in good stead for the rest of the season.
“[I will take] a little confidence of course,” she said. “And I am happy that I can play how I played, so I know that I’m heading in a good direction.” — Sapa-AFP