Paris, June 08: Kim Clijsters of Belgium, beaten by compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne in the French Open women's singles final, gave herself a happy 20th birthday present today with victory alongside Japan's Ai Sugiyama in the women's doubles final. Clijsters and Sugiyama, the second seeds, saw off their top-ranked opponents Virginia Ruano Pascual, of Spain, and Paola Suarez, of Argentina, 6-7 (5/7) 6-2 9-7 in a thrilling final which saw the champions come back from 0-2 down in the third set.

They immediately broke back and levelled but the contest went down to the wire as Suarez and Pascual broke for 5-5 when a nervous Clijsters failed to serve out for the title.

Suarez, who had won the previous two editions alongside Ruano Pascual, then successfully brought through her service game for 6-5 leaving Sugiyama to hold for 6-6.

Ruano Pascual then held her nerve and her serve to leave Clijsters having to level for 7-7.

She did so and a final effort saw the winning pair break the Suarez serve before Sugiyama held to land the trophy.

Clijsters made it third time lucky in landing some Roland Garros silverware. She was runner-up to Jennifer Capriati in the 2001 singles final before losing yesterday's encounter to Henin-Hardenne 6-0 6-4.

Sugiyama, a 27-year-old from Kanagawa, had previously been a doubles semi-finalist in 2000 and 2002.

Three years ago, then top ranked in the world for doubles, she won the US Open doubles title alongside Julie Halard-Decugis of France.

Bureau Report