PARIS: Kim Clijsters became the first mother to be crowned world No. 1 Friday when she battled back from 3-0 down to defeat Australia's Jelena Dokic 6-3, 6-0 in the Paris Open quarterfinals. Clijsters will take the top spot from Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark when the new rankings are released Monday. “I'm very happy to again be the world No. 1 player here,” the 27-year-old Clijsters said during an on-court presentation. “It's not in Belgium but it's very close. Thanks for all your support. I hope I can maybe win the tournament too.” Clijsters won the Australian Open in January to add to the US Open title she claimed in September, taking her Grand Slam tally to four. Wozniacki is still chasing her first major. Clijsters will face Kaia Kanepi of Estonia or Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in the semifinals in Paris. Also Friday, Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US upset sixth-seeded German Andrea Petkovic 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3 and will meet Petra Kvitova in the last four after the Czech player edged Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3). Ljubicic beats Baghdatis In the Netherlands, seventh-seeded Ivan Ljubicic beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4) Friday to reach the semifinals of the ABN World Tennis Tournament. Ljubicic will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a semifinal Saturday. The Frenchman progressed to the final four without hitting a ball when fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych withdrew from the tournament with flu symptoms. On Thursday, defending champion Robin Soderling finally ended his winless run against Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in another scrap to reach the ABN Amro quarterfinals. The top-seeded Soderling prevailed after more than two hours 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7). That set up a rematch of the 2010 final with sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, the 2007 champ who overpowered Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker 6-4, 6-4. Fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych sweated out a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 win over Russian qualifier Dmitry Tursunov in two hours. Zvonareva advances In Thailand, two-time defending champion Vera Zvonareva of Russia stepped closer to a hat trick of titles Friday at the Pattaya Women's Open by beating China's Peng Shuai 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Zvonareva will take on fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who earlier beat Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova 6-2, 6-0, in Saturday's semifinal. Eighth-seeded Sara Errani of Italy rallied to beat Kazakh qualifier Galina Voskoboeva 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour, 56 minutes. “The court is fast which is difficult for me. I prefer a slow surface, but I like the warm weather,” said the 44th-ranked Errani, who will next play fellow Italian, fifth-seeded Roberta Vinci, who upset second-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, 7-5, 6-3. Del Potro advances In California, Juan Martin del Potro set two milestones in his straight sets victory over Lukas Lacko at the SAP Open Thursday, but only one will be recorded in official statistics. The one that counts is that the 6-1, 7-6 (1) victory put him through to the quarterfinals of a tournament for the first time since his career was derailed by a nagging wrist injury in 2010. The other? For the first time in his lift, he managed to knock the net off its moorings with the power of his serve. “I'm serving very strong,” del Potro said, chuckling at the net buster which caused a 10-minute delay. “That's the reason.” The hard-hitting Argentine smacked his way past Lacko with punishing, penetrating forehands that pushed his opponent behind the baseline most of the match. Del Potro held off two set points in the second, forced the tiebreaker and finished it off with a strong serve he only lost once. He will face two-time Grand Slam singles champion Lleyton Hewitt Friday for a spot in the semifinals. Hewitt eliminated Argentina's Brian Dabul 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Earlier in the day, Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin advanced with a 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4) victory over American Michael Russell; Tim Smyczek of the US outlasted Kei Nishikori 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Top seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain defeated big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-5, 7-5, while Gael Monfils of France had a surprisingly tough struggle to beat American Robert Kendrick 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. Almagro in semis In Brazil, top-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain defeated Portugal's Rui Machado 6-2, 6-4 Thursday to reach the Brazil Open semifinals. However, third-seeded Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci was bounced out 6-2, 6-1 by No. 5 Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina. Almagro will face Chela Friday in the semifinals of the clay court event. The final is Saturday. Australian Open quarterfinalist Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine defeated Italy's Potito Starace 6-3, 6-4. Standing between the fourth-seeded Dolgopolov and his first ATP final was unseeded Brazilian Ricardo Mello, who reached the semis of his home tournament for a second straight year by dispatching Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-1, 6
