Clijsters meets Dementieva in Leipzig semifinals

Top seed Kim Clijsters overcame a sore arm to beat Silvia Farina Elia 6-1 2-6 6-4 on Friday and reach the semifinals of the Leipzig Grand Prix.

Second seed Nathalie Tauziat of France also dropped a set before advancing to the last four with a 6-2 5-7 6-2 win over unseeded Anne Kremer of Luxembourg.

Clijsters will meet seventh seed Elena Dementieva in the last four after the Russian scored a convincing 6-4 6-3 win over Slovakian qualifier Daniela Hantuchova to reach her third semifinal of the season.

And Tauziat next faces Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva, who beat Anastasia Myskina of Russia 6-4 6-3.

Belgian Clijsters, the defending champion, said she had felt pain in her right arm in her match against the Italian fifth seed.

"I have seen the physio about it," she said. "Fortunately I can go home next week. It will be okay for the next match."

Missed Chances
The French Open runner-up seemed on her way to a comfortable victory. She overpowered her opponent in an opening set in which Farina Elia struggled with her groundstrokes and made many unforced errors.

The 18-year-old Clijsters, however, then missed a couple of good chances in the opening game of the second set.

As the Belgian lost confidence and struggled with her backhand, Farina Elia picked up her game, before Clijsters saved two break-points early in the third set.

After re-establishing control, she converted her second match-point with a forehand winner.

Dementieva played much better than in her first two matches this week, constantly putting Hantuchova under pressure with her heavy groundstrokes.

She broke the Slovak early in both sets, and her win was never in doubt.

Indoors Advantage
It will be the third meeting between Clijsters and Dementieva, and they are tied at 1-1.

They met a few weeks ago at the U.S. Open, when Clijsters won 7-5 4-6 6-2.

"I am looking forward to the match with Kim," the Russian said. "I beat her indoors last year, so it might be an advantage for me."

The 33-year-old Tauziat controlled the first set of her match against Kremer and was one break up in the second when her opponent stepped up a gear.

Accurate passing shots helped Kremer take that set but the Frenchwoman was in command again in the third, breaking Kremer early on before sealing victory with a service winner on her second match-point.

Maleeva was 1-4 down in the first set of her quarter-final against 20-year-old Myskina, who had beaten Iva Majoli and Anna Kournikova earlier in the tournament.

But Maleeva rallied to win seven consecutive games to claim the first set and take a 2-0 lead in the second before serving it out.