Third-seeded Clijsters, who lost to Dokic in the semifinals last year here, survived a mid-match slump that cost her the second set, to eventually beat Russian teenager Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 0-6, 7-5.
Dokic, the second seed from Yugoslavia who had defeated her opponent, Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya, twice in the previous two editions of the tournament, had a much easier time with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) win.
Clijsters and Dokic are in the same bottom half of the draw and, if they both make it the semifinals, would expect the winner of their clash to play world number one Serena Williams in the final.
Before meeting Dokic, Clijsters must beat another Russian, Elena Likhovstseva, the winner over former French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain on Wednesday.
Dokic will play Thai ace Tamarine Tanasugarn, who rallied to a solid 6-4, 6-4 victory over Clarisa Fernandez of Argentina.
Thursday saw fourth seed Anna Smashnova of Israel and fifth seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan crash out of the 585,000-dollar hard court event, while sixth seed Tatiana Panova of Russia safely went through.
Smashnova fell victim to American Amy Frazier, who celebrated her 30th birthday with a 6-4, 6-3 win, while Sugiyama bowed to Australia’s Nicole Pratt 3-6, 6-4, 3-6.
Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seedings):
Singles:
Second round: 2-Jelena Dokic (Yugoslavia) beat Lina Krasnoroutskaya (Russia) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); 3-Kim Clijsters (Belgium) beat Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 6-4, 0-6, 7-5; Amy Frazier (US) beat 4-Anna Smashnova (Israel) 6-4, 6-3; Nicole Pratt (Australia) beat 5-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; 7-Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) beat Clarisa Fernandez (Argentina) 6-4, 6-4; 6-Tatiana Panova (Russia) beat Alicia Molik (Australia) 7-5, 6-4.
Doubles:
First round: 1-Cara Black (Zimbabwe)/Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) beat Kimiko Date/Miho Saeki (Japan) 6-3 — retired; Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)/Srantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spain) beat Rika Hiraki (Japan)/Jelena Kostanic (Croatia) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Quarterfinals: 4-Janet Lee (Taiwan)/Wynne Prakusya (Indonesia) beat Corina Morariu/Kimberly Po-Messerli (US) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Petra Mandula (Hungary)/Patricia Wartusch (Austria) beat Nannie De Villiers (South Africa)/Trudi Musgrave (Australia) 6-4, 6-3.—Reuters/AFP