World No. 3, Kim Clijsters of Belgium, and World No. 11, Na Li of China, are the only seeded players to reach the semifinals of the 2011 WTA Medibank International being played Jan. 10 – Jan. 16 in Sydney, Australia.
Kim ousted World No. 10, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-2. Kim has been playing well, and remarked: “I think it’s a lot to do with feeling comfortable on the surface—I think I see the ball better on the blue courts.”
Meanwhile in the other quarterfinal, Na Li defeated World No. 25, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in a tight match, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3. Na trailed Svetlana 6-3, 5-3 in the 2nd set. Na said: “Maybe I was thinking too much about winning or losing, and not enough about how I should play the next point. But I didn’t want to have regrets after the match, so I just tried to calm down.” Obviously she calmed down enough to pull out the win.
As the players continue their warm-up for the first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open beginning Jan. 17, there are many who have a chance to come out the champion. Back in November, 5-time defending champion, Serena Williams of the USA withdrew because of a lingering foot problem caused by an accidental injury shortly after 2010 Wimbledon. That opened up the bracket for several others who may now have a much better chance with Serena out of the picture. Serena has won the Australian Open the past two years, and five times since 2003.
