Fourth seed Kim Clijsters reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open for the second year running after beating Russian Anastasia Myskina 6-2 6-4 in Melbourne today.
The 19-year-old Belgian had lost two of four previous meetings with Myskina but she survived a second-set fight-back from the eighth seed to set up a clash with top seed Serena Williams.
Clijsters won the first set easily but Myskina battled back in the second set, recovering from an early break to level at 2-2. Although a double-fault from Myskina handed Clijsters the seventh game, the Russian promptly broke back again for 4-4.
But Clijsters blasted a forehand crosscourt to break again in the next game and closed out with a crunching forehand down the line on her first match point after just over one hour at Rod Laver Arena.
Williams crushed Meghann Shaughnessy 6-2 6-2 in the day's other quarter-final.
She broke Shaughnessy's serve twice in each set but faced just one break point on her own service.
Serena's elder sister Venus meets Justin Henin-Hardenne in the other semi-final, raising the prospect of a fourth consecutive all-Williams grand slam final.