Ferrer beats Sijsling to reach Unicef Open semis
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David Ferrer routed Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 6-0, 6-1 on Thursday to reach the Unicef Open semifinals.
The top-seeded Spaniard needed just 43 minutes to advance and next plays Frenchman Benoit Paire, who beat Ito Tatsuma of Japan 6-3, 7-5. Sijsling won only one game in front of his home crowd at the grass-court tournament.
Philipp Petzschner of Germany and Xavier Malisse of Belgium will meet in the other semifinal match.
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On the women's side, Kim Clijsters of Belgium beat the 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 7-6 (7) in a match that was held up by rain.
It was Clijsters' third win of the tournament, providing a boost after she had been sidelined most of the season due to injuries. She next plays Urszula Radwanska of Poland, who defeated Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden, 6-2, 7-6 (3).
Clijsters will play in Wimbledon, but is unseeded at the Grand Slam tournament that starts on Monday.
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"It was a very intense match. Schiavone is a player who keeps fighting and has all sorts of different strokes," Clijsters said.
Also on Thursday, eighth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia overpowered third-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-0 in just over an hour.
Petrova will play the winner of the match between Kirsten Flipkens and Roberta Vinci, which was suspended due to rain with Flipkens leading 6-4, 5-4.