Nothing personal

Serena Williams said revenge was not on her mind after setting up an Australian Open semifinal collision with Kim Clijsters here Wednesday.

World number one Williams bludgeoned American 25th seed Meghann Shaughnessy 6-2, 6-2 to book her place in a keenly-anticipated last-four date with Belgian fourth seed Clijsters.

Clijsters, who has been in scintillating form this year and is unbeaten in tournament play since last October, advanced to the semis after swatting aside Russia's Anastasia Myskina 6-2, 6-4.

The Belgian was the last player to beat Williams in a tournament when she upset her at the season-ending WTA Tour championships in Los Angeles last November.

Clijsters also claimed the scalp of Venus Williams in the same event, making her the only woman to beat both sisters in 2002.

Williams said revenge would not be on her mind when she meets the in-form Belgian on Thursday. "Vengeance belongs to God," the 21-year-old said. "I'm just here to play tennis."

But there is little doubt defeat still bothers Williams, who refused to elaborate on reasons for the loss when pressed on Wednesday.

"She played really well," Williams said.

"You know, I don't like to live in the past. You can feel free to look up the last transcripts and see why I lost that match," she told a questioner.

Williams then could not hide her irritation when asked about comments by Clijsters that the gap between the Williams sisters and the rest of the field was closing.

"Sure the gap is closing, yeah. Quite frankly, I'm tired of answering these questions. Every day the same question. 'What does it take to beat the Williams sisters?'. You know, I don't know," she said.

While Clijsters is in the form of her life, Williams too appears to be hitting her stride at the right time.

"I feel much better than I have throughout the tournament," Williams said. "This day is the first day that I'm actually feeling like Serena Williams."

But Clijsters, the girlfriend of world number one Lleyton Hewitt and hugely popular in Melbourne, was quick to distance herself from the burden of being labelled the favourite.

"I have a different feeling about that," Clijsters said. "There's a lot of tough girls out there at the moment.

"I still think Serena and Venus are the toughest girls to play.

"Whenever you get into big tournaments and big matches they can play even better than what they have been in that same tournament.

"So you know I think that's what makes them really champions, because they play even better when they have to," said Clijsters, who hinted she plans to try and fight fire with fire against Serena.

"When you play Venus or Serena you'll always have to hit a bit harder and place it a little bit better," she said.

The Williams' ability to raise their games by a gear or two was a quality identified by Serena's beaten opponent Shaughnessy.

The 23-year-old never had an opportunity to break Williams, but did occasionally manage to sneak a point clear of her opponent on serve. On each occasion, Williams invariably slammed the door.

"That's why she is where she is," Shaughnessy said. "All great players, when it's a break point or key point or important game or whatever, they always pick up the level."

Shaughnessy also acknowledged she had been unprepared for the sheer power of Williams' game.

"It was a little bit of a shock how fast the ball was coming," she said. "It was coming with a lot more power than anyone I played here so far."