Injury forces Venus withdrawal

Hingis was stretched and broken by Clijsters

S Williams bt V Williams (walkover)
K Clijsters beats M Hingis 6-2 2-6 6-1

Venus Williams pulled out of her Tennis Masters Series-Indian Wells semi-final tie with sister Serena minutes before she was due on court.

The reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion pulled out of the eagerly-anticipated sibling clash, citing right knee tendinitis as the reason for her default.

The sisters were practicing together a couple of hours prior to the scheduled start of the match and observers said that Venus was seen flexing her knee during the work-out.

It was to be the sixth career meeting between the sisters with Venus leading the series 4-1.

In the women's final, Serena Williams will face Belgian Kim Clijsters, who stunned world number one Martina Hingis 6-2 2-6 6-1.

Clijsters celebrates victory

The 17-year-old had not beaten the world number one in any of their three previous meetings but came out on top after three sets.

"I've been closer and closer every time I've played her and this is probably my greatest victory," Clijsters said following he 6-2 2-6 6-1 win.

"I know that Martina didn't play her best, but those are the chances I have to take," she added.

Showing tremendous confidence Clijsters dominated the baseline rallies that the pair played out and more than often prevailed with flat, hard groundstrokes.

After being outplayed in losing the first set 6-2 Hingis changed tactics and reaped immediate reward.

Mixing in a handful of sliced backhands and playing Clijsters more to the forehand side Hingis turned the tables on her opponent.

Mentally I was a little bit tired and I just couldn't figure out what to do

  Martina Hingis

Rather than allowing the 19th ranked player to control the centre of the court, Hingis forced the pace, disrupted the Belgian's serve, and benefited from a host of unforced errors to level the match winning the second set 6-2.

However in the decider Clijsters regained her focus and opened the set by breaking serve.

From that point on Hingis was completely deflated and was unable to handle the pace of the forehands that Clijsters kept unwinding.

Clijsters finished the contest with 21 winners, 13 from her forehand, compared to only 10 from Hingis.

Hingis conceded that she did not play particularly "smart" tennis.

"Mentally I was a little bit tired and I just couldn't figure out what to do.

"It was the main reason I didn't know how to win points and the longer the rallies got, the less I had a clue, which is usually not the case," said Hingis.