Proximus Diamond Games

Top seed Venus Williams breezed into the semi-finals in Antwerp with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Slovenia's Tina Pisnik.

The defending champion took the first set in just 30 minutes after charging into a 5-0 lead.

Pisnik broke early in the second set but immediately surrendered the advantage and lost her serve again at 4-4 to allow Williams to close out the match.

"It was much more even in the second set," said Williams. "I had to hit a lot of balls. She didn't give me a lot of points."

Williams, whose sister Serena is not taking part, will meet fourth-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in the last four.

Hantuchova edged out Nathalie Dechy of France 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (8-6).

Second seed Kim Clijsters gave the 9,000-strong crowd the victory they wanted, despite a slow start.

The Belgian slipped 5-3 behind in the opening set but fought back strongly, levelling before claiming the second set in under half an hour.

"The crowd pulled me through in the first set," said Clijsters. "I just shot too many unforced errors. Fortunately, I played more contained from then on."

Third seed Justine Henin-Hardenne faces Japan's Ai Sugiyama in the other quarter-final.

Qatar Total Finaelf Open

Russian wild card Lina Krasnoroutskaya saw off seventh seed Conchita Martinez to reach the last four in Qatar.

Martinez conceded the match at 0-4 in the second set with an injured ankle after losing a tight first set on a tiebreak.

Krasnoroutskaya was joined in the semi-finals by fellow Russians Anastasia Myskina and Elena Likhovtseva.

Second seed Myskina swept aside her compatriot Dinara Safina 6-2 7-5 and fifth seed Likhovtseva beat Bulgarian third seed Magdalena Maleeva 6-4 6-2.

Myskina will now face Austria's Patricia Wartusch, who bounced back from a disastrous first set to beat eighth-seeded Australian Nicole Pratt 0-6 6-2 6-4.