Vaidisova Raises Her Game Again

Being in the Acura Classic semifinals is a big deal for 17-year-old Nicole Vaidisova. The Czech Republic teen is still finding her level on the pro tour. She is still trying to harness her massive athletic ability, train her long legs and sculpted arms to work in unison.

No matter what happens the rest of the weekend Vaidisova will be ranked in the top 10 when new WTA Tour computer rankings are released Monday. Vaidisova guaranteed that with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 comeback over unseeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze on Friday in the quarterfinals.

Her semifinal opponent tonight is 23-year-old Kim Clijsters, who sounded ready for retirement now instead of after next season, as she plans. Even after beating comeback kid Martina Hingis, 7-5, 6-2, Clijsters complained that her legs were tired and her back hurt.

“Annoying little things keep coming up,” Clijsters said. She blamed an increasingly sore back for not allowing her to rotate on shots and being the cause of her frustrated racket smash in the first set.

Today’s first semifinal will have second-seeded Maria Sharapova against fifth-seeded Patty Schnyder. Sharapova dominated defending champion Mary Pierce with a 6-2, 6-3 win. Pierce, 31, came to the court with both her legs wrapped Thursday. “I was feeling really sore,” Pierce said. This was only her third match back after a six-month injury timeout and healing doesn’t happen quickly at her age.

Schnyder, a 27-year-old from Switzerland, has spent a decade on the fringes of greatness. She has made it to one Grand Slam semifinal (2004 Australian Open) and two quarterfinals. She has been ranked as high as No. 7 but more often has just hung on the fringes of the top 10. Now she is in the semifinals for the third straight week after her 6-4, 6-3 dusting of fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva.

After losing the first set to Chakvetadze, Vaidisova was down 2-0 and one point away from being down 3-0 and two service breaks. Vaidisova powered up her forehand in desperation and not only saved the break point but broke the Russian’s serve four straight times.

Vaidisova, who was ranked No. 12 in the world before this tournament and had made it to the French Open semifinals earlier this year, said of her second set circumstance, “I don’t think it could have gotten much worse than that. I think it would have been even tougher and a little different story if I was down 3-0 and two breaks.”

Hingis, after a three-year hiatus to help both her sore feet and sore psyche, is determined to return to the top of the rankings. But she keeps running into Clijsters. This is the third time the two have played in a quarterfinal match in 2006 and the third time Clijsters has dictated both the style of play and the result.

After Hingis broke Clijsters’ serve to tie the first set at 4-4, the Belgian won three of the last four games and did it by getting angry and overpowering Hingis from the back court. While Clijsters berated her own play, it was Hingis who was the resigned loser.

“You kind of run out of steam,” Hingis said, “when you don’t take chances. But Kim puts so much pressure on you all the time. She doesn’t give you a free point; she’s always on top of you. No one hits winners off the first serve. But she does.”

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Venus Williams, who had withdrawn from the Acura Classic because of a wrist injury, withdrew from next week’s JPMorgan Chase Open in Carson for the same reason.