Clijster’s Reaches Hertogenbosch Semis with Win Over Schiavone

By Chris Oddo

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Peter Dejong

(June 21, 2012)—Kim Clijsters reached the semifinals of the UNICEF Open with a 6-3, 7-6(7) victory over Francesca Schiavone today. For Clijsters, who saved all 8 break points she faced, the win marks her 12th consecutive victory over the Italian.

The 29-year-old Belgian, who plans to retire after the 2012 US Open, has not yielded a set in her last two matches at the grass-court event. Schiavone held two set points, one while serving at 6-5 and another with Clijsters serving at 7-6 in the second set tiebreaker, but failed to convert on each.

Clijster's semifinal opponent, Qualifier Urszula Radwanska of Poland, reached her first WTA semifinal of the year with a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory over Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden.

Radwanska, the younger sister of world No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska, has upset Marion Bartoli, Sabine Lisicki and Flavia Pennetta in the last month, and climbed to No. 64 in the rankings (just two spots shy of her career-high).

Eighth-seeded Nadia Petrova reached the semifinals with a convincing 6-2, 6-0 victory over third-seeded Dominika Cibulkova. Petrova won 31 of 51 points against the Slovakian's serve and converted on 6 of her 13 break point opportunities to secure the victory in just over one hour.

Petrova will have to wait and see who her semifinal opponent is, as qualifier Kirsten Flipkens and sixth-seeded Roberta Vinci had their match suspended due to rain in the second set with Vinci one point away from forcing a decider.

Ferrer Blasts Sijsling in 42 Minutes to Reach Semis

David Ferrer did his best King of Grass impersonation today against hometown favorite Igor Sijsling, racing past the 24-year-old Amsterdam native while hardly breaking a sweat. Putting forth a serving display that would have impressed Pete Sampras himself, Ferrer lost only three points on serve all afternoon.

The 30-year-old Spaniard was equally ruthless while returning, as he hammered Sijsling's second serve, winning 12 of 16 points against it and breaking serve in all but one game.

Ferrer, who is bidding for his second Hertogenbosch title, will move on to face surprise semifinalist Benoit Paire of France. The world No. 60 served 15 aces in his straight-sets 6-3, 7-5 victory over Tatsuma Ito of Japan.

In another surprising development, German qualifier Philipp Petzschner reached the semifinals with a 6-4, 7-6(8) victory over Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France. Petzschner has dropped to 145 in the rankings but he seems to play his best tennis on the grass each year.

He'll play his first tour-level semifinal since 2011 Halle against Xavier Malisse tomorrow. Malisse, a 31-year-old former Wimbledon semifinalist, defeated Gilles Muller 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.