The No. 1 ranking may be beyond Amelie Mauresmo's reach in the Nasdaq-100 Open. She'll settle for winning the tournament.
The top-seeded Frenchwoman advanced to the semifinals by beating 17-year-old Ana Ivanovic, 6-1, 6-4, yesterday in Key Biscayne, Fla.
Amelie Mauresmo celebrates her win over Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals of the Nasdaq-100. "I feel like I'm playing better and better," she said.
(Steve Mitchell -- AP)
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Mauresmo, who spent five weeks at No. 1 last year, will regain the top ranking only if she defeats a top-five player in the final. That means she needs No. 3 Maria Sharapova to beat No. 9 Venus Williams in the other semifinal today.
Lindsay Davenport, who skipped the hard-court tournament to protect her troublesome knees, has been No. 1 since October.
"Of course I would love to get it back," Mauresmo said. "But having had it once, it's pretty different. My goals are somewhere else. Doing well in these big events is today more important to me."
Mauresmo's opponent today will be unseeded Kim Clijsters, who won her 12th match in a row by beating fifth-ranked Elena Dementieva, 6-2, 6-1, in 56 minutes.
Coming back from a career-threatening wrist injury that sidelined her much of last year, Clijsters was ranked 133rd before winning the Indian Wells title this month and will climb into the top 30 next week. That means she'll likely be seeded in May at the French Open, where she's a two-time runner-up.
"I feel like I'm hitting as good as I can at the moment," Clijsters said.
She had help against Dementieva. Of the 58 points Clijsters won, 41 came on unforced errors by the Russian, including eight double faults.
Unseeded David Ferrer and No. 29 Rafael Nadal advanced to an all-Spanish semifinal tomorrow. Ferrer swept No. 26 Dominik Hrbaty, 6-2, 6-3, and the 18-year-old Nadal beat No. 25 ThomasJohansson, 6-2, 6-4.
"We're friends," Ferrer said. "At least a Spaniard will go on in the tournament."
No man from Spain has ever won the title.
In today's quarterfinals, No. 1 Roger Federer will play No. 6 Tim Henman, and No. 31 Taylor Dent will face six-time champion Andre Agassi, seeded ninth.
-- From News Services
