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| October 13, 2002 | Sunday | Sha'aban 6, 1423 |
Clijsters and Hantuchova to clash in final
FILDERSTADT (Germany), Oct 12: Kim Clijsters saved a match point and swept the last five games to claim a place in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with a 3-6 6-3 7-5 win over Amelie Mauresmo on Saturday.
The sixth-seeded Clijsters will now play eighth-seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia who beat unseeded Russian Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-2.
Clijsters took an early lead against Maruesmo, breaking for 2-1, but the Frenchwoman immediately responded and swept to a 5-2 lead.
In the second set, Clijsters again took the first break, to love for a 3-1 lead, and although Mauresmo pulled the break back in the next game she netted a forehand that gave the Belgian another decisive break for 4-2.
In the final set, Clijsters struck the ball more powerfully and consistently but the fifth-seeded Mauresmo won the important points to build up a 5-2 lead.
The Frenchwoman held a match point at 5-3 but Clijsters fired a blistering return that forced a volley error from Mauresmo.
Mauresmo then lost her serve and failed to win any of four game points at 5-5 before Clijsters broke again with a winning forehand and closed out the match to love.
The Belgian, gaining revenge for defeat by Mauresmo at the U.S. Open this year, said: “I was happy with my mentality out there today.
Semifinal results: (prefix number denotes seeding):
6-Kim Clijsters (Belgium) beat 5-Amelie Mauresmo (France) 3-6 6-3 7-5
8-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Elena Dementieva (Russia) 6-3 62.
VIENNA: Fifth seed Jiri Novak charged into his first final of the year with a tight 7-6 7-6 victory over unseeded Romanian Andrei Pavel in the indoor CA Trophy Saturday.
Novak is one of the most consistent players on the tour this year, having reached the last four in seven tournaments but previously had never managed to squeeze into the final.
The Czech now faces the winner of the remaining semi-final clash between fourth seed Carlos Moya of Spain and sixth seed Roger Federer of Switzerland.
Much is at stake for both semi-finalists if they want to qualify for the lucrative, season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai. A tournament win here in Vienna would move Moya past Britain’s Tim Henman into fifth place in the ATP Champions Race, while Federer would charge into seventh place.—Reuters
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