MELBOURNE, Australia — Kim Clijsters moved into an Australian Open semifinal showdown with second-ranked Vera Zvonareva, beating Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 7-6 (4) today as air force planes flew overhead as part of celebrations for the national holiday.
Cannons went off earlier when Zvonareva started the Australia Day proceedings at Rod Laver Arena with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Petra Kvitova.
Thursday’s semifinal will be a rematch of the last U.S. Open final, where Clijsters collected her third Grand Slam title.
Clijsters is the only Grand Slam winner in the women’s semis, although she’s still seeking her first major title outside of the United States. No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki and China’s Li Na meet in the other half of the draw.
“I hope the experience can help me a little bit,” Clijsters said. “But there are some tough players out there. We have Nos. 1, 2, 3 still in and Li Na has been playing really well. So it is going to be really tough.
“I lost to Vera at Wimbledon last year; I beat her in the finals of U.S. Open.”
Clijsters has a 6-3 lead in head-to-heads against Zvonareva, while Li has won two of her three matches against Wozniacki.
Zvonareva has lost the last two Grand Slam finals, to Clijsters in New York and Serena Williams at Wimbledon.
Clijsters was up a set and a break before Radwanska rallied, winning three straight games to lead 5-4 with a chance to serve for the second set.
With six Royal Australian Air Force “Roulettes” flying overhead, Clijsters converted her fourth break-point chance to tie it at 5 and the set went to a tiebreaker.
“I think the planes kind of took me up higher!” said Clijsters, long a crowd favorite in Australia, where she’s called “Aussie Kim.” She also was engaged for a time to former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt.
“Happy Australia Day, everybody,” she said in a salute to her supporters.
Zvonareva and Kvitova were surprised when cannons went off in a nearby park. Zvonareva asked that the match be stopped for a few minutes while a woman in her sightline was given medical attention in the stands, but chair umpire Mariana Alves told them to continue.
“I didn’t know they were going to start this noise during our match, it was a difficult moment,” said Zvonareva, who led the final set 3-0 before the disruptions but saw Kvitova level it at 4-4. “You’re here to play tennis. . . . I was trying to keep my concentration.”
On Tuesday, Roger Federer moved on to the Australian Open semifinals for the eighth time, ousting Stanislas Wawrinka 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in the first all-Swiss quarterfinal at a major, while Novak Djokovic eliminated Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych 6-1, 7-6 (5), 6-1.
