MIAMI, March 31: Kim Clijsters continued her resurgence with a crushing 6-2 6-1 victory over Elena Dementieva to reach the semifinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open on Wednesday and stay on course for back-to-back tournament victories.

The unseeded Belgian, who won the title at Indian Wells 12 days ago, needed less than an hour to beat the Russian and set up a match against top seed Amelie Mauresmo, who thrashed Serbian teenager Ana Ivanovic 6-1 6-4 earlier in the day.

The victory extends Clijsters’ winning streak to 12 and she has lost just one match since returning to the women’s tour in February after being sidelined for most of 2004 with a wrist injury.

The men’s tournament is assured of a Spanish finalist after Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer both won through to the last four on Wednesday.

Nadal beat Thomas Johansson 6-2 6-4, taking an hour and 23 minutes to ease past the former Australian Open champion.

The 18-year-old is currently enjoying his best ever performance in a Masters Series tournament, his previous best result was here last year when he beat Roger Federer to reach the last 16.

Ferrer, ranked 44 in the world, beat 26th seed Dominik Hrbaty 6-2 6-3.

In the remaining men’s quarterfinals Swiss Federer takes on Briton Tim Henman and Andre Agassi plays fellow American Taylor Dent.

Mauresmo needed just 65 minutes to end 17-year-old Ivanovic’s giant-killing run in Miami.

“She was just playing constantly well,” said Belgrade-born Ivanovic, who beat seeded Russians Nadia Petrova and Svetlana Kuznetsova before falling to the Frenchwoman.

“I’m pretty happy with my effort. There are so many things I still have to improve so I’m really looking forward now.”

Mauresmo’s win keeps alive her faint hopes of recapturing the number one ranking from Lindsay Davenport. She has a mathematical chance of overhauling the American but needs to win the title here to have any possibility.

“I’m focused on that but it’s not my main focus,” said Mauresmo. “I think the game and also doing well in these big events is more important to me. Of course, I would love to get it (the number one spot) back but my goals are somewhere else.”

Maria Sharapova will play Venus Williams in the other women’s semifinal. #

Results:

Men (quarterfinals): David Ferrer (ESP) bt Dominik Hrbaty (SVK) 6-2, 6-3; Rafael Nadal (ESP) bt Thomas Johansson (SWE) 6-2, 6-4;

Women (quarterfinals): Amelie Mauresmo (FRA ) bt Ana Ivanovich (SEM) 6-1, 6-4; Kim Clijsters (BEL) bt Elena Dementieva (RUS) 6-2, 6-1.—Agencies