seeded Kim Clijsters lost 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne grass-court tournament Thursday. Clijsters dropped just three games in her opening two matches but the Belgian player struggled against Azarenka, who reeled off four games in a row to close out the match. “I felt I was looking for rhythm and timing, compared to my singles yesterday,” Clijsters said. “Her shots are hard and low, and it's tough to get an angle against her.” Third-seeded Samantha Stosur beat Britain's Elena Baltacha 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-0 to reach her fifth semifinal of the year and eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France edged Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5). Svetlana Kuznetsova's miserable year continued when she was defeated 6-4, 7-5 by qualifier Ekaterina Makarova in an all-Russian clash. The unseeded Azarenka earned her first break with a winning forehand down the line to take a 3-2 lead before Clijsters saved six set points to level at 5-5. Azarenka, who this week earned her first back-to-back victories in six tournaments, took the set in the tiebreak on her ninth set point and then recovered an early break in the second. Up 2-4, Clijsters suddenly lost her way and netted a forehand volley on match point to hand Azarenka victory. “I was up 4-2 and it went quickly from there - a couple of double faults and good returns from her which pushed me back,” Clijsters said. “I wasn't able to dictate and felt I was being pushed back a bit.” French Open finalist Stosur struggled early on and netted a backhand volley to hand Baltacha the first set in the tiebreak. But the Australian player, who also made the Eastbourne semifinals in 2008, was more aggressive in the second set as she hit 18 winners and allowed Baltacha just six points in the opening four games. The early games of the third set were closely contested but Stosur pulled clear and closed out her final service game with three aces. Kuznetsova, the 2004 champion who has slipped to No. 20, was taken to three sets in her first two matches but could not get past Makarova, who had reached the quarterfinals for the third year running. Bartoli needed two hours, 51 minutes to reach the last four of the Wimbledon warmup tournament for the fourth straight year. In the men's event, eighth-seeded Michael Llodra, coached by former women's No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo, ended the comeback of fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-3. The No. 3 seed was playing his first tournament since March after suffering a knee injury. Llodra will next face seventh-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, who defeated James Ward of Britain 6-3, 6-4. Fifth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain served for victory at 5-3 before overcoming fourth-seeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2), and Denis Istomin of Ukbekistan beat Illya Marchenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-4. Henin in semis In the Netherlands, Justine Henin reached the semifinals of the UNICEF Open Thursday without dropping a set, showing she'll be ready to go after her first Wimbledon title next week. The top-seeded Henin beat Kristina Barrois of Germany 7-5, 6-3 to set up a match with fifth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania, who beat fourth-seeded Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The win boosted Henin's grass-court career record to 48-11, including two Wimbledon finals. She won at Den Bosch in 2001 but hadn't competed here since 2003. This was also her first tournament on grass in three years. Seventh-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany and Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium will compete in the other semifinal. Petkovic reached her first semifinals since January when she beat Czech qualifier Sandra Zahlavova 6-2, 7-6 (5), while Flipkens is into her first semis of the year thanks to a 6-2, 6-3 drubbing of Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. In the men's draw, defending champion Benjamin Becker beat German compatriot Simon Greul 6-3, 6-1. Becker will play Janko Tipsarevic, the seventh seed from Serbia, who topped Peter Luczak of Australia 6-3, 6-3. Also in the semifinals are Xavier Malisse of Belgium and Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine.
