Clijsters eases into Diamond Games semi-finals

ANTWERP (Belgium): Belgian Kim Clijsters eased past Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 7-6 6-2 to reach the Antwerp Diamond Games semi-finals on Friday.

World number two Clijsters struggled in the first set, which she took 7-2 in a tiebreak, before finding her form to ease through the second for the loss of just two games. “It is not easy to play against Magdalena,” Clijsters said. “She might be 29, but she is still very quick. I hope I’ll be as fast at her age. “She really put me under pressure in he first set and it made think of our encounter in (the French Open at) Roland Garros last spring where she also put me under pressure in our first set.”

Earlier, fifth-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder was forced to retire with a groin strain in her quarter-final against Italy’s Silvia Farina Elia. Elia, the eighth seed, was leading 7-6 1-0 when Schnyder realised she was unable to continue. In other quarter-finals, Swiss Myriam Casanova defeated Czech Klara Koukalova 4-6 6-3 6-4, and Croatian Karolina Sprem beat Czech Denisa Chladkova 6-4 6-3. Clijsters will play Casanova and Farina Elia meets Sprem in the last four. —Reuters

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