Zurich, Oct 19: Jelena Dokic defeats Kim Clijsters to advance to the final of the Swisscom Challenge. Yugoslav Jelena Dokic dumped world number one Belgian Kim Clijsters out of the Swisscom Challenge on Saturday (October 18) to secure her first final appearance of the year and title showdown with Justine Henin-Hardenne. More than the Swiss title will be on the line on Sunday. If second seed Henin-Hardenne beats Dokic she will replace compatriot Clijsters at the top of the 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 semi-final 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 semi-final, 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.


In doing so, she stretched her unbeaten run over Petrova to five, with four of their meetings coming this year in Den Bosch, San Diego, Toronto and Zurich. She now remains on course to meet compatriot and world number one Kim Clijsters, who faces Yugoslav Jelena Dokic in the second semi-final, and battle it out for the top ranking on Sunday.


Petrova was broken in the opening game of the match but, after saving three break points in her second service game, she drew level in the fourth when Henin-Hardenne hit into the net on the third break point.


It was a close match, with every game hotly contested, but Henin-Hardenne kept her nose ahead in the opening set to seal it.


Petrova eased into a 2-0 lead in the second set when Henin-Hardenne hit two successive double faults to lose her serve to love. The Belgian broke back immediately, however, when Petrova returned the compliment and then held to level at 2-2.


The pair then continued the trend of tight, see-saw games peppered with mistakes when they broke each other then held their own serves to move to 4-4 with tension mounting.


Petrova cracked first, however, in the crucial ninth game of the set and after saving two break points she double faulted on the third to hand Henin-Hardenne the opportunity to serve for the match and the Belgian did not need asking twice.


Bureau Report