MIAMI: Belarussian Victoria Azarenka produced some sparkling tennis to defeat an out-of-sorts world No. 2 Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open on Wednesday. Azarenka, whose career breakthrough came with her win here at Key Biscayne in 2009, ran out 6-3, 6-3 winner against the 2010 champion Clijsters. Azarenka will face Russian world No. 3 Vera Zvonareva in the semifinals Thursday after she beat Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 6-3. The Russian took advantage of some mediocre serves from her opponent to go up 6-5 in the first set and although Radwanska rallied in the next game to go up 30-0 against serve, Zvonareva regained her composure to wrap up the first set. It was easier going in the second and the Russian finished off the ninth-seeded Radwanska with a perfect passing shot. Russian Maria Sharapova will face emerging German talent Andrea Petkovic in Thursday's other semifinal. Novak Djokovic extended his winning streak to 24 consecutive matches by beating Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Djokovic, the No. 2 seed, erased all five break points he faced in the match. His opponent in the semifinals will be American Mardy Fish, who beat sixth-seeded David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2. “It was anything but easy. The result doesn't show what we had on the court definitely,” Djokovic said. “I kind of expected him to be aggressive, but he was really going for the shots.” Djokovic won two Davis Cup matches in December, and his 22-0 record in 2011 is the best to begin a year since Ivan Lendl started 25-0 in 1986. “When you watch him play, it's really not that surprising that he hasn't lost yet, because he's playing so well,” Fish said. “He's not going to win every single match this year. So hopefully it can be against me.” As Djokovic closed in on his latest win, he unveiled his version of the Petko Dance – a celebratory jig introduced by Andrea Petkovic. Fish, meanwhile, became the top-ranked men's American player by beating Ferrer in his quarterfinal match. The 29-year-old Fish will climb to at least 11th, a career best, in the next rankings. His good friend, Andy Roddick, will fall from eighth to 14th after losing his opening match last week. The eighth-ranked Azarenka took full advantage of a below-par display from Clijsters who made 44 unforced errors, a day after she was pushed to a third set tie-break by Ana Ivanovic. “I just didn't feel good out there. Just mentally and physically, I didn't feel right,” the Belgian told reporters. “It has been a tough few last days but not in a way that I should not be ready for that. I train hard enough to physically be capable of doing that. “Mentally I just kind of feel like I didn't have any fighting spirit. “It's obviously tough against someone like her. Against some lower ranked players maybe it's possible to get through matches, but against somebody like her it isn't,” she said.
