Women's Tennis: Clijsters Easily Advances at JP Morgan Chase Tournament


09 August 2003

Belgium's Kim Clijsters is one step closer to the world number one ranking, after storming into the semifinals of the JP Morgan Chase women's tennis tournament in Los Angeles.

Clijsters easily dismissed Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets Friday, 6-3, 6-1. The top seed will take on 16th-seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy, Saturday.

Clijsters, who is ranked number two in the world, is looking to take over the number one spot from American Serena Williams, who will not be competing in the upcoming U.S. Open because she is recovering from knee surgery.

Fourth-seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan will take on second-seed Lindsay Davenport of the United States, who knocked off eighth-seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4 late Friday to advance.