Melbourne, Australia – Martina Hingis and Kim Clijsters set up their second straight Australian Open quarterfinal showdown with fourth- round victories today.
Hingis, the Swiss star who swept the 1997-99 titles and reached the finals the next three years before quitting the tour because of nagging foot and ankle problems, weathered an early challenge from China’s Li Na before winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Clijsters, the Belgian player in her final season on the tour, edged No. 15 Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 7-5. Last year in the quarterfinals, Clijsters ended Hingis’ first run at a major after three seasons in retirement, winning 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
“It’s always a pleasure to play her again here,” Clijsters said. “She’s just a great champion. We get along on and off the court as well.”
Hingis has reached the quarterfinals in her past nine trips to Melbourne Park, two since coming back from retirement.
The 23-year-old Clijsters was up 6-1, 3-0 when Hantuchova rallied and got back on serve in the second set. Clijsters wasted two match points in the 10th game and had to break serve to finish off the match in 1 hour, 19 minutes. She lost only nine games in three previous matches.
Hingis, coming off three two-set victories, was taken aback by heavy pressure from Li’s strong ground strokes in the first set.
“She came out on fire, I’ve never played her before, I knew it was going to be a difficult match,” Hingis said. “I knew I had to come up with the best … and after the first set I started playing better.”
On the men’s side, James Blake had another Grand Slam disappointment, losing in the fourth round to Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets.
The 27-year-old Blake has never gone beyond the quarterfinals in 20 majors, but came into the season’s first Grand Slam tournament confident of improving on that after defending his title at the Sydney International.
Instead, it was Gonzalez advancing to the quarterfinals – 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (4) – for the first time in Melbourne. He got himself out of trouble with aces when he had to, and regularly ripped forehand winners to keep Blake on the baseline.
The 26-year-old Chilean had a little trouble closing, wasting two match points on Blake’s serve and then getting broken himself when serving for the match.
But he dominated the tiebreaker, getting two mini breaks before closing with an ace, his 18th.
Tommy Haas ended eighth-seeded David Nalbandian’s endurance run, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win.
Nalbandian twice rallied from two sets down and saved match points in earlier rounds, but ran out of gas after taking the opening set against the 12th-ranked Haas, sending a backhand wide on match point.
“I’ve seen what he can do in the past couple of weeks,” Haas said. “So I’m really happy with the way I played today. … It was really, really good.”
