Clijsters injured in Brisbane

Daniela Hantuchova, who got to the Brisbane quarterfinals by receiving a walkover from an injured Serena Williams, played only a set and half against quarterfinal opponent Kim Clijsters because Clijsters injured her left hip. Hantuchova is now in the semifinals, in which she will play Kaia Kanepi. Kanepi upset 3rd seed Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-0. (She had already taken out 7th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and 2nd seed Andrea Petkovic.)

In doubles, Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears defeated the Australian team of Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqu, and will play Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja in the final.

In Auckland, Flavia Pennetta reached both finals. She defeated Angelique Kerber in straight sets, then she and Julia Goerges defeated 2nd seeds Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina 2-6, 7-6, 11-9. In the other doubles semifinal, Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka upset top seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik 6-4, 6-0.

Pennetta's opponent in the singles final will be Zheng Jie, who upset 3rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals.

We are still in the first week of the new season, and already, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Sabine Lisicki have sustained injuries. Williams has a history of working through and around her injuries, but Clijsters and Lisicki appear vulnerable. However, when we factor in Williams' age, so does she.

Next week, there are tournaments in Sydney and Hobart; the top seed in Hobart is Yanina Wickmayer. The draw is so strong in Sydney that Maria Kirilenko has to go through qualifying. Aravane Rezai was in the qualifying draw, but had to retire in her first match because of a knee injury. Kaia Kanepi was also scheduled to play in the Sydney qualifying rounds, but she's busy upsetting big players in Brisbane.