Federer through as Hingis's fairytale ends

Top seed Roger Federer survived another tough day before booking his place in the Australian Open semi-finals yesterday as Swiss compatriot Martina Hingis's fairytale run ground to a halt.

Federer was below his brilliant best for the second match in a row but his sublime skills and unrivalled ability to raise his game when it matters enabled him to see off Nikolay Davydenko 6-4 3-6 7-6 7-6.

But there was no such luck for Hingis, the former three-time Australian Open winner making her return to grand slam tennis at Melbourne Park.

Hingis defied extravagant odds just to reach the quarter-finals but the bubble finally burst when she lost 6-3 2-6 6-4 to second seed Kim Clijsters.

The Belgian's victory elevated her back to number one in the world after she was plagued by injuries in 2005.

"After the time I had last year, this is the cherry on the cake, it just tops it off," Clijsters said.

She will play third seed Amelie Mauresmo in today's semi-finals after the muscular Frenchwoman thrashed Swiss seventh seed Patty Schnyder 6-3 6-0.

Federer faces 21st seed Nicolas Kiefer tomorrow after the German beat Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-3 0-6 6-4 6-7 8-6 in an ill-tempered match.

Federer had been taken to five sets in his fourth round clash with Tommy Haas and had to work just as hard against Davydenko, saving six set points to win the third set in a tiebreak than having to win another tiebreak to seal victory.

"I definitely felt like I had to play well, especially at the important moments," Federer said.

US Open champion Clijsters started strongly against Hingis, winning the first set in little over half an hour, before the former world number one began her comeback.

Hingis won the second set and went stroke for stroke with Clijsters in the third before her lack of match play at the highest level following her return to the circuit this year finally caught up with her.

"Although losing against Kim today, it just still gives me so much to look forward to because it was a tight match at the end," Hingis said.

Mauresmo needed just 52 minutes to beat Schnyder and said she fancied her chances of winning her first grand slam. The 26-year-old was runner-up to Hingis at Melbourne Park in 1999 but said she was a much better player now.

"I'm using every part of my game much better now, I think, than seven years ago," she said.

Today's other women's semi-final sees Russian fourth seed Maria Sharapova against Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne, the 2004 Australian Open champion who beat top seed Lindsay Davenport on Tuesday to allow Clijsters to regain the number one ranking.

Argentine fourth seed David Nalbandian plays unseeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the first men's semi-final today.

Kiefer made the last four in a grand slam for the first time in 35 attempts after a match lasting four hours and 48 minutes, the longest at this year's tournament and one of the longest in the championship's history.

¤ Yan Zi and Zheng Jie became the first Chinese players to reach a grand slam final yesterday when they advanced to the Australian Open women's doubles final. Yan and Zheng, seeded 12th in doubles, booked their place in tomorrow's championship decider with a 6-2 7-6 win over Japan's Shinobu Asagoe and Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik.