MELBOURNE, Australia — Kim Clijsters took over as No. 1 in women's tennis, and she got there by defeating someone who used to rule the sport.
Clijsters won her Australian Open quarterfinal match Wednesday over Martina Hingis, who was making her Grand Slam comeback after three years of retirement. The victory moved Clijsters into a semifinal against Amelie Mauresmo.
Clijsters, who will replace Lindsay Davenport atop the women's rankings, won 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 over Hingis — who won three straight Australian Open titles in 1997-99 and then was a losing finalist the next three years before leaving the sport.
"I can be proud. You just can't think you're going to go out there and win everything," Hingis said. "I lost only 6-4 in the third against the No. 1 player, so I don't think it's that bad. You think I'm going to give up right now?"
While Hingis' remarkable return to tennis ended Wednesday, her Swiss compatriot — Roger Federer — stayed on course for his seventh Grand Slam title. The top-seeded Federer moved into the men's semifinals with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5) win over No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko.
Clijsters has been so troubled by injuries that the 22-year-old Belgian already has begun talking about her time after tennis. For now though, she's concentrating on added another major to her 2005 U.S. Open title.
Despite spending 209 weeks ranked No. 1, Hingis had to get a wild card for Melbourne because her ranking slipped to No. 349. But Clijsters said that disguises the threat posed by Hingis.
Clijsters raced to a 4-0 lead in the first set, but Hingis then broke her serve, raising her eyebrows and mouthing a mock "Wow!" In the second set, she broke Clijsters' serve twice. Clijsters cut down on her errors and started hitting her groundstrokes with more precision in the third set.
Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin-Hardenne will meet in the other women's semifinal.
Federer had some problems for the second straight match. After beating Tommy Haas in five sets, he almost fell behind 2-1 in sets to Davydenko — but the 24-year-old Russian pushed a forehand just wide in the ninth game of the third set.
Instead of getting another break point chance, Davydenko allowed Federer back into the game. And Federer made him pay.
"I'm extremely, extremely happy to come through tonight," Federer said. "I never felt like I'd lose — but he had me in trouble. I really had to fight."
Federer next plays Nicolas Kiefer, who needed 4 hours, 48 minutes — including a 96-minute final set — to defeat No. 25 Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, 6-7 (1), 8-6.