Backed by thousands of home fans at Ethias Hall, Clijsters raced to 5-2 in the first set and held off a pressing Maleeva. In the second set, they remained level till the seventh game, when the Belgian made the decisive break and beat Maleeva for the sixth time in as many matchups.
Second-seeded Clijsters made her return in her home tournament on Wednesday after being sidelined for five months with a left wrist injury.
"I am extremely pleased with my level of play," said Clijsters, who admitted she still had to ice her wrist after matches.
Today, she'll play No. 3 Elena Bovina of Russia, who beat No. 5 Francesca Schiavone of Italy, 7-6 (6), 6-1.
The other semifinal features top-seeded Elena Dementieva -- runner-up at the US and French Opens -- against unseeded Maria Elena Camerin of Italy.
Dementieva edged Czech Denisa Chladkova 7-5, 6-4, while Camerin followed her victory over No. 4 Karolina Sprem by eliminating Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in a 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 thriller which lasted nearly three hours.
Top seed and defending champion Nicolas Massu of Chile was eliminated by fifth-seeded Filippo Volandri of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia quarterfinals on Friday.
Massu, the Olympic singles and doubles gold medalist, had beaten Volandri earlier this year to even their series at 2-2, but couldn't sustain his momentum after winning the second set.
Volandri proved again his prowess on clay by reaching his fourth semifinals on the dirt this season. He won his first ATP title at St. Poelten in May.
He'll next meet Argentina's Juan Monaco, who downed Frenchman Olivier Mutis 6-3, 6-2 and qualified for his second career semifinals.
Seventh-seeded David Ferrer of Spain upset No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Ferrer next faces No. 8 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
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