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PARIS, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Kim Clijsters claimed a quarterfinals victory Friday at the GDF Suez Open tennis tournament in Paris that assured her of regaining the women's No. 1 ranking. Clijsters raced past Jelena Dokic 6-3, 6-0 in 51 minutes. Clijsters had six breaks in eight Dokic service games and won 68 percent of the points in the match.
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By advancing to the tournament semifinals, Clijsters is assured of enough ranking points to supplant Caroline Wozniacki atop the world women's rankings. Wozniacki has been No. 1 for 18 weeks.
The rise to No. 1 caps an incredible 18 months since Clijsters ended a two-year break from competitive tennis. In that span she's won three Grand Slam titles, including this year's Australian Open, four other tournaments and posted a 68-11 match record.
It is her fourth time to take the No. 1 spot. The first was in August 2003 and she was No. 1 most recently in March 2006.
Her semifinal opponent Saturday will be third-seeded Kaia Kanepi, who beat No. 8-seeded Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 behind a 12-ace attack.
The other semifinal will send fourth-seeded Petra Kvitova against Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Kvitova just got by seventh-seeded Yanina Wickmayer 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) and Mattek-Sands was a 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-3 winner over No. 6-seeded Andrea Petkovic in their quarterfinals.
