China's Li Na defeated Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik in two straight sets at the Sydney International yesterday to set up a semi-final clash with Kim Clijsters.

The 21st-ranked Li wore down Srebotnik in her quarterfinal, winning 7-5, 6-1 in 77 minutes, serving very well.

Li will face world No. 5 Kim Clijsters today. Clijsters swept into the semifinals after a quickfire victory over Israeli Shahar Peer. She took just 54 minutes to blow away 6-2, 6-1 victory over the 18th-ranked Peer.

Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo was upset in the quarterfinals and Nikolay Davydenko, seeded No. 2 in the men's draw, became the fifth high-profile player to retire from the Australian Open warm-up tournament.

Mauresmo, current Australian Open champion, lost 7-5, 6-0, to Serbia's Jelena Jankovic.

She replaced No. 1-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne as the top-seeded player in Sydney after the Belgian withdrew from this year's Australian events for undisclosed personal reasons.

Davydenko lost the first set 6-4 to Paul-Henri Mathieu of France before retiring due to pain in his right foot. He said he would travel to Melbourne for medical tests and assess his condition before next week's Australian Open.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies January 11, 2007)