Clijsters meets Henin-Hardenne in Aussie final

TeamWTA pictures
By Etienne Stekelenburg
January 30 2004

Belgian Kim Clijsters defeats Swiss Patty Schnyder for a place in the final. Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia in the first semi-final.

Kim Clijsters did face some problems in the second set against Patty Schnyder. The Swiss player didn’t take advantage of Clijsters’ ankle problem to converse the set-points, she lost a 4-2 lead and lost the tiebreaker.

Clijsters had won the first set 6-2 and looked like getting into the final match in an easy match. In the second set the Belgian was having problems with her ankle again.

An injury she picked up at the Hopman Cup is not going to stop her. "My ankle is not going to get any better. But the good news is I can't make it any worse. I'll just have to keep my mind off it," she said.

Clijsters managed to pull out a tiebreak after being down 4-2 in the second set. Schnyder held setpoints but could not hold off Clijsters.

The Belgian No. 2 stormed through the tiebreak winning it 7-2 ending the match 6-2 7-6 (7).

Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium only needed 76 minutes to beat Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia to reach her first Australian Open final.

No. 1 of the WTA ranking Henin-Hardenne won the semi-final 6-2 6-2.

"It was a good fight and there were lots of good rallies. I played well on the big points and I served well," Henin-Hardenne said.

"I've won all my matches in straight sets so physically I'm feeling fine," she said.