Vera Zvonareva edged a gruelling Centre Court battle with US Open champion Kim Clijsters today to set up a Wimbledon semi-final against the unseeded Tsvetana Pironkova.

REIGNING US Open champion Kim Clijsters had a day to forget as she crashed out of the Australian Open yesterday.

DEFENDING champion Serena Williams believes Kim Clijsters will have nothing to lose when the two former world number ones meet in tonight’s US Open semi-final at Flushing Meadows.

Former US Open champion Kim Clijsters continued her remarkable comeback from retirement with a three-set victory over third seed Venus Williams.

Second seed Kim Clijsters booked her place in the last 16 at Wimbledon – but was made to work hard for a 6-3 6-2 victory by Jie Zheng of China.

Kim Clijsters booked her place in the second round with a 7-5 6-3 victory over Vera Zvonareva – but the number two seed had to fight for every point.

WORLD No 1 Kim Clijsters picked up a reported €130,000 champagne tab after offering each of the 10,000 spectators watching her second round match at the WTA event a bottle of bubbly.

MARTINA HINGIS found out yesterday that she can still slug it out with the best. She also knows she still has a way to go to get back to the top.

FOR ALL Kim Clijsters cared, they could have ripped the cheques up right in front of her.

Nadia Petrova took Maria Sharapova close in their quarter-final encounter at the US Open, but the top seed had just enough to edge past her Russian counterpart.

Former world number one Venus Williams was stunned after she bowed out from the French Open’s third round at the hands of 15-year-old unseeded Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva.

Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Clijsters, tennis’ most high-profile couple, have split up.

Belgian hopes of another Grand Slam success at Wimbledon have been dashed as the country’s top two players have withdrawn from the tournament in the space of 24 hours.

A wrist injury has forced world number two Kim Clijsters to pull out of Wimbledon.

Australian Open tournament director Paul McNamee today dismissed as “very unlikely” suggestions that tennis may look into adopting cricket-style video umpires to rid the game of questionable line-calls.

Justine Henin-Hardenne threw her racquet in the air, collapsed to her knees and shed tears of joy after beating Kim Clijsters to win the Australian Open and her third Grand Slam title.

World number two Kim Clijsters will face her Grand Slam nemesis Justine Henin-Hardenne in the final of the Australian Open after both Belgians won with differing ease in Melbourne today.

Injury-stricken Venus Williams proved her fighting spirit by clawing her way into her fourth consecutive Wimbledon final and another showdown with sister Serena.

World number two Kim Clijsters came from a set down against outsider Silvia Farina Elia to clinch her first Wimbledon semi-final.

Second seed Kim Clijsters became the quickest player in 21 years to reach 50 wins in a season as she strolled into the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the second time today.

Justine Henin-Hardenne took the first set to love in the historic all-Belgian French Open final against her compatriot Kim Clijsters.

Kim Clijsters continued her march through the Australian Open to reach the semi-finals without dropping a set.