Belgium’s Kim Clijsters cruised into the semi-finals of the Brisbane International with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 win over Czech player Iveta Benesova on Thursday. Fifth seed Clijsters took 78 minutes to see off Benesova, who had beaten top seed Samantha Stosur in the previous round. Benesova struck the ball beautifully at times but she was unable to reproduce the consistency she showed against Stosur to bother the four-time Grand Slam champion. “I think I was looking for the lines a little bit better and… I tried to get in charge of the rallies as soon as I could because I knew that once she gets behind the ball and gets a good look at it she’s so sharp,” Clijsters said.
“I’m starting to feel more confident, the little ups and downs that happened in my previous matches weren’t there, which is good, which is why I’m here, to get those matches and improve every match and to learn from the things that weren’t going well.” Clijsters will now play Daniela Hantuchova in the semi-finals after the Slovakian was handed a place in the last four when Serena Williams withdrew on Wednesday night with an ankle injury. Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi caused the tournament’s second upset in as many days when she dumped second seed and 2011 runner-up Andrea Petkovic from the tournament 6-1, 7-6 (9/7).
