Melbourne, Australia – Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and Kim round winners Sunday at the Australian Open.
Wozniacki continued her recent mastery of Jelena Jankovic with a 6-0, 7-5 victory at Rod Laver Arena. The 21-year-old Dane has won four straight matches against the Serbian to even their lifetime series through eight meetings.
"I felt like I played some really good tennis out there today," Wozniacki said.
Vying for that elusive first Grand Slam title, Wozniacki will face Clijsters in the quarterfinals.
The 11th-seeded Belgian kept alive her bid for a second straight Australian Open title by rallying for a three-set victory over China's Li Na in a rematch of last year's final.
Clijsters seemed to twist her left ankle midway through the first set after taking a tumble, and then fought off four match points to overcome the fifth- seeded Li, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.
"It definitely crossed my mind at some point, but I knew if I could just try to kind of let the medication sink in or, you know, if I could get through the first 20 minutes, half hour, you know, I think the pain would go away a little bit and then maybe with the adrenaline I could just fly through it," Clijsters said when asked if she contemplated pulling out of the match after injuring her ankle.
"Yeah, I did, and I'm happy that I didn't give up."
A four-time Grand Slam champ, Clijsters was behind 6-2 in the second set tiebreak, but somehow rallied by winning the next six points. She evened the tiebreak at 6-6 with a brilliant lob winner and then finished off the set when her Chinese opponent sent a return long.
Clijsters won the first four games of the third set, but Li rallied to close within 5-4, even fighting off a match point. She then ended the lengthy affair when Li sent a backhander into the net, one of 46 unforced errors by the 29- year-old.
Also Sunday, third-seeded Belarusian slugger Victoria Azarenka advanced to the quarterfinals. Azarenka, who titled in Sydney last week by beating Li in the marquee finale, beat veteran Czech left-hander Iveta Benesova, 6-2, 6-2. Azarenka has yet to drop a set at this year's first major.
The match, which lasted 77 minutes, saw Azarenka take advantage of 26 unforced errors from Benesova. Next up for Azarenka will be No. 8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat No. 22 seed Julia Goerges, 6-1, 6-1.
"It's going to be a really tough battle," Azarenka said. "Mentally it's difficult. She's a very difficult player to play against. But we'll see. I mean, I'm going to be out there trying my best and fight hard."
Azarenka, who is on a nine-match winning streak, moved to 4-0 all-time against Benesova.
The fourth round will conclude Monday with matches for Petra Kvitova, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
Kvitova, the No. 2 seed, will face former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic with the winner battling either Italian Sara Errani or Chinese Zheng Jie in the quarterfinals.
The fourth-seeded Sharapova will meet Sabine Lisicki and a victory over the 14th-seeded German could set up a quarterfinal match against 13-time major champion Williams. But the 12th-seeded Williams must first beat Russian Ekaterina Makarova.
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