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Kim Clijsters came through a major test of her early season form
to reach the Sydney International final with a 4-6 6-3 7-6 victory over Alisa
Kleybanova on Thursday.

The 27-year-old Belgian is favourite for the Australian Open but
required all of her expertise at winning clutch points in a ding-dong battle
with the big-hitting Russian at a windy Sydney Olympic Park. The U.S. Open
champion clinched her place in the final when Kleybanova went long with a
backhand after a hard-fought two hours and 38 minutes, maintaining her record
of not having lost a semi-final or final since coming out of retirement in
2009.

In Friday’s final, Clijsters will meet China’s Li Na, who
continues to suggest she might match or even better last year’s breakthrough at
Melbourne Park. The 28-year-old, who made it to the semi-finals at the year’s
first grand slam in 2010, came back from a break down in the first set to beat
Serbian teenager Bojana Jovanovski 7-6 6-3. “It wasn’t easy, she’s young but
she’s playing well,” said Li, who was at a loss to explain her great start to
the year. “I just came in, and then finally I was in the final. I was
surprised. I always play well in Australia. I don’t know why.”

Gilles battling back to
form

Former top 10 player, Gilles Simon, continued his battle back
from a serious knee injury to reach the last four in the men’s tournament with
a 6-4 6-3 win over Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov on a windy day at the Sydney
Olympic Park. The French baseline hustler, who was ranked as high as sixth in
the world at the start of 2009 after beating Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and
Novak Djokovic in 2008, said his mobility was improving. “My physical trainer
is 47-years-old, and when we were running he was faster than me,” he said.
“He’s still fit, but still, I was one of the fastest player on the tour. Trust
me, I’m moving far better now than three or four months ago.”

His semi-final opponent Ernest Gulbis was, by contrast, feeling terrible
after his 6-4 6-4 quarter-final victory over another Ukrainian, Sergiy
Stakhovsky. “Bad,” the Latvian said when asked how he felt. “Yesterday’s match
killed me physically. It was really humid and I lost a lot of fluids, so
straight I went to the hotel and I went to sleep. I didn’t feel good. Going to
be okay tomorrow? I just can’t go really long matches. Don’t tell Simon.”
Fourth seeded Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, plays Serbian Viktor Troicki; and
German Florian Mayer takes on Italian Potito Starace in Thursday’s evening
matches to decide the make-up of the other men’s semi.