The Belgian, sharpening her grasscourt game for next week’s Wimbledon championships, lost 7-6, 6-4 at the south-coast venue which has witnessed several shocks this week.

Clijsters saved set points at 3-5 in the first set but survived to take it to a tiebreak which Azarenka won 8-6.

The second set appeared to be heading Clijsters’s way but the vocal Azarenka  recovered  a break and marched into the semifinals where she will face France’s Marion Bartoli.

“I’m very happy,” Belarussian Azarenka, whose groans and grunts shattered the peace of Devonshire Park, told reporters. “The conditions were windy but I dealt with that and feel I’m playing very well on the grass.”

Britain’s Elena Baltacha sensed one of the biggest victories of her career when she won the first set against French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur but collapsed to a 6-7, 6-1, 6-0 defeat as the Australian world No. 7 upped her game.

“She was on a roll, she played really hot in that second and third set,” Baltacha told reporters. “There’s a reason why she made the finals of Paris, she’s a very good player.”

Bartoli beat Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez  5-7, 6-4, 7-6 while,  in an all-Russian contest, qualifier Ekaterina Makarova beat former US and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-5.
 
 
Henin in Unicef Open semis  

In Den Bosch, Netherlands, Justine Henin has reached the semifinals of the Unicef Open on Thursday without dropping a set in the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.

Henin defeated Kristina Barrois 7-5, 6-3 to set up a match with fifth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru, who beat Yaroslava Shvedova 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The win boosted Henin’s grass-court career record to 48-11, including two Wimbledon finals. The seven-time Grand Slam winner has yet to win a Wimbledon title.

She won at Den Bosch in 2001, but hadn’t competed here since 2003. This was also her first tournament on grass in three years.

Seventh-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany and Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium will compete in the other semifinal.

Petkovic reached her first semifinals since January when she beat qualifier Sandra Zahlavova 6-2, 7-6 (5). Flipkens defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-3.

In the men’s draw, defending champion Benjamin Becker beat Simon Greul 6-3, 6-1. Becker will play Janko Tipsarevic, who topped Peter Luczak 6-3, 6-3.
 
 
Stepanek to miss Wimbledon, Davis Cup quarters

Meanwhile,  Radek Stepanek was ruled out of Wimbledon and the Czech Republic’s Davis Cup quarterfinal against Chile next month because of a left knee injury.

“His health problems are more serious than he expected,” Czech Davis Cup captain Jaroslav Navratil said in a statement posted Thursday on the website of the country’s tennis federation.

No. 25 Stepanek was seeded 22nd for Wimbledon, which begins Monday.

Stepanek was injured in Prague this week while he was preparing for Wimbledon, Czech Davis Cup team spokesman Karel Tejkal said.

Stepanek said in March that he was suffering from a fatigue syndrome and needed at least two months’ rest. He returned to action at a challenger tournament in Prostejov this month.

But he pulled out of last week’s Gerry Weber Open, the grass-court tournament in Halle, Germany, because of throat inflammation.

Stepanek opened the season by reaching the final of the Brisbane International in January. He lost in the first round of the Australian Open and failed to get beyond the second round in any other tournament this year.