Tennis

Clijsters meets Hingis, Nadal plays Gonzalez

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-01-24 09:01

Title favourite Kim Clijsters faces three-times former champion Martina Hingis and men's second seed Rafael Nadal meets in-form Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in the pick of Wednesday's Australian Open quarter-finals.

Top seed Maria Sharapova takes on fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze in the day's opening match and number three seed Nikolay Davydenko plays German Tommy Haas.

Good friends Clijsters and Hingis, seeded fourth and sixth respectively, meet for the ninth time in a repeat of last year's Melbourne Park quarter-final.

Each has four wins, though Belgian Clijsters won their three meetings in 2006 after the return of the 26-year-old Swiss to the circuit following a three-year self-imposed exile.

"This is a completely different match," the 23-year-old Clijsters told reporters. "She has beaten me before.

"We always kind of joke around the locker room. It's fun and I think it's healthy. Of course, we all try to win when we're out there."

Clijsters reached the Australian Open final in 2004 and has not dropped a set in her last appearance at the tournament before retiring at the end of the year.

Hingis, Melbourne Park champion three times in a row from 1997-99, dropped the first set of her quarter-final against China's Li Na after winning her first three matches for the loss of only nine games.

Sharapova, poised to become world number one next week, should be too strong for her 12th-seeded Russian compatriot Chakvetadze, but she will not take her lightly after being made to work hard to overcome Vera Zvonereva 7-5 6-4 in the last round.

Nadal was pushed all the way by British teenager Andy Murray in the fourth round and faces another huge test in the shape of 10th seed Gonzalez, who has played sublime tennis in victories over fifth seed James Blake and Australian Lleyton Hewitt.

Gonzalez served brilliantly against Blake and Nadal will need to be at his best to subdue the Chilean, who has beaten him twice in three matches, particularly if the Spaniard is still feeling the effects of his late-night thriller against Murray.

Russian Davydenko has moved quietly and efficiently through the draw and he finally gets a chance to play on Rod Laver Arena against 12th seed Haas.

The experienced German has also slipped almost unnoticed into the quarter-finals, but he saw off the considerable threat of eighth seed David Nalbandian in the last round and could cause problems for the consistent Davydenko.