Kim Clijsters of Belgium hits a return against Martina Hingis of Switzerland during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 25, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters)

Martina Hingis of Switzerland hits a return against Kim Clijsters of Belgium during the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 25, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters)

Martina Hingis of Switzerland acknowledges the crowd as she leaves the court following her quarterfinal match against Kim Clijsters of Belgium Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006, at the Australian Open Tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia. (Xinhua/Reuters)

    CANBERRA, Jan. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Second seed Kim Clijsters reached women's singles semi-finals of Australian Open in Melbourne Wednesday after defeating former world champion Martina Hingis.

    The former world No.1 of Switzerland lost 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 after irresistible come-back during the past matches at the Open.

    In the first set, Clijsters raced to a 4-0 lead after twice snapping Hingis' serve.

    Hingis then pulled herself back into the match, dominating the second set.

    After breaking back to level at 2-2, she closed out the set without allowing the Belgian another game.

    The third set began as the previous two had, with Clijsters taking the early advantage. She again broke Hingis' serve at the seventh game and held the lead until the end of the match.

    Hingis hadn't played in a grand slam for almost four years after initially being sidelined by an ankle injury and then going into what seemed like full retirement.

    "After three years off you can't expect to step out and win every match," Hingis said.

    "Losing to Kim today gives me so much to look forward to," She said.

    "It was a tight match, after all she is number two in the world," she said.

    Clijsters also praised Hingis' performance.

    "I think she may even be better now," Clijsters said.

    "She definitely hits the ball a lot harder than she used to when I played her previous times," she said. Enditem