Clijsters had some nervous moments in her 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska, but really only when some air force planes flew in formation overhead as part of celebrations for the national holiday.
Cannons went off earlier when Zvonareva started the Australia Day proceedings at Rod Laver Arena with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Petra Kvitova.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad hereClijsters is the only Grand Slam winner into the women's semis, although she's still seeking her first major title outside of America. No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki and China's Li Na meet in the other half of the draw.
"I hope the experience can help me a little bit," Clijsters said. "But there are some tough players out there, we have Nos. 1, 2, 3 still in and Li Na has been playing really well. So it is going to be really tough.
"I lost to Vera at Wimbledon last year, I beat her in finals of U.S. Open."
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Zvonareva has lost the last two Grand Slam finals, to Clijsters in New York and Serena Williams at Wimbledon.Clijsters was up a set and a break before Radwanska rallied, winning three straight games to lead 5-4 with a chance to serve for the second set.
With six Royal Australian Air Force "Roulettes" flying overhead, Clijsters converted her fourth break-point chance to tie it at 5 and the set went to a tiebreaker.
"I think the planes kind of took me up higher!" joked Clijsters, long a crowd favorite in Australia, where she's still called "Aussie Kim." She also was engaged for a time to former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt.
"Happy Australia Day everybody," she said in a salute to her supporters.
Zvonareva wore a black ribbon on her hat in honor of the 35 victims of the suicide bombing at a Moscow airport this week. Her quarterfinal also featured a couple distractions.
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