Clijsters ousts Hingis at Australian Open
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-25 18:35

Kim Clijsters ended Martina Hingis' impressive run in her Grand Slam comeback with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win Wednesday in the Australian Open quarterfinals.

Martina Hingis of Switzerland, right, leaves the center court after her quarterfinals match against Kim Clijsters of Belgium, seated left, at the Australian Open Tennis Tournament in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Jan 25, 2006. Clijsters won the match 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. [AP]

Clijsters claimed the No. 1 ranking and reached the semifinals with the win. It gave Hingis a decent idea of where she stands in the women's game after three years in retirement.

Second-seeded Clijsters, the U.S. Open champion, led by a set and a break before Hingis rallied, flashing the tenacity that helped her win three consecutive Australian titles in six straight finals appearances.

Hingis quit the tour in 2002 due to persistent foot and heel injuries, only returning to competitive tennis on Jan. 2.

She was ranked No. 349, was 7-2 coming into the match and was playing on a wild card entry at the season's first major.

Clijsters wasted two match points on Hingis' serve in the ninth game, then served out at love.

She next plays No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo, who reeled off the last nine straight games in a 6-3, 6-0 quarterfinal win over No. 7 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.

"It's been a long time since I played her — she's improved a lot since she was at her best," Clijsters said. Hingis held the No. 1 ranking for 209 non-consecutive weeks, reaching the top for the first time at age 16.

The Swiss were 0-2 in the women's quarterfinals, with top-ranked Roger Federer — on a 49-match winning streak on hardcourts — in action Wednesday night against No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko.

The winner of that match faces Germany's Nicolas Kiefer, who advanced to the semifinals with a grueling and contentious 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, 6-7 (1), 8-6 win over Sebastien Grosjean.

Kiefer, in the final four for the first time in 35 majors, had to withstand the longest match of the tournament at 4 hours, 48 minutes.

Clijsters raced to a 4-0 lead before Hingis broke her serve, raising her eyebrows, mouthing a mock "Wow!" and smiling broadly as the 22-year-old Belgian's forehand landed wide.

She held serve twice more before Clijsters served out at love in 31 minutes on consecutive errors from Hingis.

Hingis was broken again, after holding game points at 40-0, to open the second set but then broke Clijsters' serve twice to lead 5-2.

Clijsters took her cap off and shook her head in disbelief in the changeover.

It didn't help. Hingis broke her serve again next game, converting on her third set point to level the match at one set apiece.

Hingis served a double-fault at breakpoint to open the third set and remained a break behind for the remainder of the match that lasted 1:42.

The difference was Hingis' defense. There had been questions whether she would be able to keep up with today's power game, and she faltered early, often finding herself lunging for stinging Clijsters' groundstrokes deep in the corners.

But Hingis seemed to settle in and started measuring Clijsters' speed, and the Belgian's consistency collapsed as she tallied 49 unforced errors.

Clijsters, who has been suffering from him and back pain, was looking stiff, spraying shots all over the place. But she pulled herself back together in the third set.

WTA Championship winner Mauresmo was broken in the sixth game before she recovered to dominate Schnyder.

"We waited a long time to come on court," Mauresmo said. "It's pretty tough to handle — I was able to keep my emotions down even though Sebastien was out there."

Kiefer was barely able to contain his emotions.

In a bizarre point at 40-30 in the 12th game of the fifth set, he tossed his racket over the net just after Grosjean — serving to stay in the match — hit a forehand into the net.

Grosjean immediately appealed for a hindrance ruling, but was denied by umpire Carlos Bernardes and then argued the point with Grand Slam supervisor Mike Morrissey — without success.

When the point was confirmed for Kiefer, making it deuce, the crowd erupted with loud boos and whistling.

Had Bernardes decided the racket landed in the singles court while the ball was still in play, Kiefer would have lost the point.

In the end, Grosjean held the game, and had the bulk of the center court crowd behind him.

Kiefer already had been warned twice for using obscene language. One more code violation would have cost him a point.

He had already been fined $2,000 for making "audible and visible obscenities" in his first-round, five-set win over Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand.

On Wednesday, he frequently questioned line calls, losing his cool as he lost the fourth-set tiebreaker and again when he was broken for a second time in the fifth set.

"There was so much pressure, it was a very close match," Kiefer said. "Some points were so easy, (but) there was so much tension on the court ... you try to fight for every ball."

The final set lasted 96 minutes. Grosjean was more consistent, hitting 59 winners and 55 unforced errors, while Kiefer hit 34 winners and committed 67 unforced errors.

On Tuesday, top-seeded Lindsay Davenport extended her Grand Slam title drought to six years with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 quarterfinal loss to Justine Henin-Hardenne, the reigning French and 2004 Australian Open champion.

It cost her the No. 1-ranking she'd held for 15 weeks.

Henin-Hardenne's semifinal opponent will be 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, who ousted fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 7-6 (6), 6-4.