Former world number one Kim Clijsters continued her winning return from injury with a 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1 victory against Russian fifth-seed Nadia Petrova on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Belgian woman's next opponent at the 585,000-dollar WTA tournament here is America's Venus Williams who put out France's Virginie Razzano 6-3, 6-0.

Clijsters had been out of action with a serious wrist injury sustained in October.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005