By Bill Scott Aug 5, 2006, 6:25 GMT
Carlsbad, California - Top seed Kim Clijsters and number 2 Maria Sharapova polished off a pair of multiple Grand Slam champion opponents to move into the semi-finals of the Acura Classic Friday.
Clijsters made heavy weather of a 7-5, 6-2 quarter-final victory over Martina Hingis, winner of five majors as a teenager.
The normally calm Belgian smashed a racket after losing serve to let the Swiss back in for 4-all in their first set.
Sharapova overpowered limping Mary Pierce, the 1994 Australian Open and 2000 Roland Garros champion, 6-2, 6-3 to send the holder out.
Second seed Sharapova won six games in a row from 2-2 in the opening set to take the match by the throat as Pierce succumbed to leg problems which had required her to take to the court with both thighs heavily strapped.
Clijsters on Saturday is to play Czech Nicole Vaidisova, who will move into the Top 10 for the first time after beating Russian Anna Chakvetadze 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Sharapova takes a 2-1 edge into her contest against Switzerland's Patty Schnyder.
The Swiss left-hander stretched a summer run of hardcourt form as she blasted past Russian Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-3 to reach the showdown.
'I'll have to be aggressive and make her go for her shots,' Sharapova said of the Saturday match-up against a rival whom she leads 2-1. 'Patty loves to run and she can make you hit extra balls.'
Schnyder, who lost last weekend's final to Clijsters at Stanford, benefited from more than 40 unforced errors from Dementieva.
'You don't know what she will do,' said Schnyder, 6-5 in head-to- heads with the Russian, a French and US Open finalist in 2004.
'She can attack, put a lot of spin on the ball. She can serve very well. But I just had to stick to my game plan.'
Clijster faced nine break points in an up-and-down match with Hingis, whom she beat in quarter-finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros this season.
The Hingis challenge faded in the second set after the Belgian began to get control of her game and the Hingis error count mounted.
The Swiss who stepped away from tennis for three years only to return in January, was broken five times.
'It was tough sometimes tonight,' said the winner, now 16-5 at the tournament. 'I was struggling in the first set and the frustration boiled over.
'I've had some injury problems and I don't feel that my game's quite there. But it's great to get to another semi-final,' said the winner of last weekend's Stanford title in California.
Hingis admitted to a mental letdown after the intensity of the first set.
'When you lose a 5-4 lead and probably the next eight points, it's like a blackout,' said the 25-year-old. 'The match was very intense and mentally tough.
'She puts such pressure on you, she's always on top of you. She's hitting twiners off of first serves and had no weaknesses.'
Clijsters levelled her career record against Hingis to four games apiece in a series which began in 2000.
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