Clijsters demolishes Mauresmo to meet Sharapova in final: Federer, Agassi clash in semis
MIAMI, April 1: Former world number one Kim Clijsters crushed top seed Amelie Mauresmo 6-1 6-0 on Thursday to reach the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open, where she will meet Maria Sharapova who earlier beat Venus Williams 6-4 6-3.
Men’s number one seed Roger Federer maintained his unbeaten record with a 6-4 6-2 win over Tim Henman to set up a semifinal meeting with Andre Agassi, who demolished his fellow American Taylor Dent 7-5 6-0.
Unseeded Clijsters whipped past Mauresmo in little more than an hour to extend her winning streak to 13 matches and stay on course for back-to-back titles following her victory at Indian Wells 13 days ago.
Clijsters has lost just one match since returning to the tour in February after missing most of the 2004 season with a wrist injury.
“Things have clicked into place really quickly,” said Clijsters. “In Indian Wells it was like a dream and now it’s even more amazing. I’m enjoying myself and everything is in place at the moment.”
Looking sprightly and fleet-footed, Clijsters signalled her intent by breaking Mauresmo’s serve early in the first set and from then on was never troubled by the Frenchwoman.
Swiss Federer eased past Briton Henman to book his place in the last four with his 30th win of the year and his 20th consecutive victory since losing to Marat Safin at the Australian Open in January.
Agassi, who has won the title in Miami six times, took just 70 minutes to deal with Dent.
After Agassi took the first set with a late break of serve, Dent’s body and spirit both proved vulnerable in the second.
At 0-4 down Dent received treatment on an ankle injury and thereafter put up little resistance.
Federer said he was looking forward to taking on Agassi for the chance to play in the final against David Ferrer or Rafael Nadal, who meet in the other, all-Spanish, semifinal.
Wimbledon champion Sharapova will have to be at her best to beat Clijsters in Saturday’s final but on Thursday was just happy to enjoy the moment.
The Russian went from strength to strength in the second set, breaking Williams to go 2-0 up and staying ahead until she served for match at 5-3.
Only then did the she begin to show any signs of self-doubt.
In a long and dramatic ninth game, Sharapova was forced to save her first breakpoints of the match as Williams fought to stay in the tournament.
Eventually, after an hour and 20 minutes, Sharapova watched the American’s final shot sail long on her third match-point and fell to her knees in relief and triumph.
Results:
Men (quarterfinals): Roger Federer (SUI) bt Tim Henman (GBR) 6-4, 6-2; Andre Agassi (US ) bt Taylor Dent (USA) 7-5, 6-0.
Women (semifinals): Maria Sharapova (RUS) bt Venus Williams (USA) 6-4, 6-3; Kim Clijsters (BEL) bt Amelie Mauresmo (FRA ) 6-1, 6-0.—Agencies
