More than the Swiss crown will be on the line on Sunday. If second seed Henin-Hardenne beats Dokic she will replace compatriot Clijsters at the top of the world rankings.
Dokic, who had not won consecutive matches for three months coming into the Zurich tournament, was forced to battle back from a set down in the semifinal but withstood the pressure to win 1-6 6-3 6-4 in 79 minutes.
Clijsters had beaten Dokic in all of their last four meetings and she started the stronger when she broke serve after a comfortable opener and took the score to 3-0 in just six minutes.
Dokic chalked up a game but Clijsters, in a different class early on, broke to love in the sixth she won another love game with a backhand drive down the line, an un-hittable serve, a forehand crosscourt and an ace to complete the set.
The Yugoslav hit back with a break in the fourth game of the second when Clijsters double faulted. The Belgian got back in her stride with a couple of love games but Dokic served out the set with one of her own.
The crucial third set break point fell to Dokic in the fifth game when Clijsters hit into the net but Dokic had to save a break point with an ace in the eighth game to stay on course for victory.
Dokic was back on form, playing more of what she had earlier described as her “best tennis in 18 months”, and she raised her hands in the air in delight after Clijsters hit long to hand her the match.
In the earlier semifinal, Henin-Hardenne battled past Nadia Petrova 6-4 6-4 to reach her 11th final of the year and stretch her unbeaten run over the towering Russian to five matches.
The second seed and world number two, who was nursing a knee injury and admitted she was running on empty after playing her 80th match of the season to reach the semis, was broken four times in the match but used all her gritty qualities to dig out victory.
Results:
Jelena Dokic (Yugoslavia) beat 1-Kim Clijsters (Belgium) 1-6 6-3 6-4; 2-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) beat Nadia Petrova (Russia) 6-4 6-4
MASSU IN FINAL
MADRID: Nicolas Massu of Chile won through to his first Masters Series final with a comprehensive 7-5 6-4 victory over Moroccan 15th seed Younes El Aynaoui in Madrid on Saturday.
The unseeded Massu, who beat Gustavo Kuerten and Andy Roddick en route to the semi-finals, maintained his outstanding form to beat El Aynaoui in 100 minutes on centre court.
Massu got the crucial first-set break in game 11, when El Aynaoui smacked a backhand long at 30-40.
Massu, who becomes only the second Chilean after Marcelo Rios to reach a Masters Series final, will take on world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero who beat Swiss third seed Roger Federer 6-4 4-6 6-4 to reach the final.
Ferrero took the first set off Federer in just 30 minutes but the Wimbledon champion hit back to level the match with a break in the 10th game.
The momentum was with Federer but the Spaniard made the crucial break in game five with two cracking forehand winners and clinched victory on his fourth match point as the Swiss failed to get back another well placed forehand approach.—Reuters