Antwerp gets its dream final

Mauresmo, Clijsters advance to championship match for second straight year

FROM THE PROXIMUS DIAMOND GAMES IN ANTWERP – Amelie Mauresmo beat Kim Clijsters in last year’s Antwerp final, but the Belgian can get her revenge on Sunday in her last appearance in front of a home crowd, after the top seeds advanced through their semifinal matches on Saturday.

“I don’t look at it as getting my revenge, I just want to win the match.” Clijsters said.

The Australian Open semi-finalist beat Tatiana Golovin 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday night, but showed weakness after dominating wins over Olga Poutchkova and Ana Ivanovic in the earlier rounds.

“I wasn’t as consistent as in my previous matches. I wasn’t serving well, but I tried to keep fighting and play aggressive whenever I could. I’m just really happy I made it to the last day,” said the Belgian

Clijsters hit nine double faults against Golovin and had to come back from a 4-2 deficit in the first set. “Once I start hitting double faults, I have the tendency to not finish my service motion. This has been a problem for me for years, but I’m not really worried about my serve in general,” Clijsters explained.

Clijsters did not want to talk about a possible tournament win at her last appearance in Belgium. She leads Mauresmo 8-6 in career meetings, but lost the last four.

“My first goal is to play well tomorrow. I’ll have to be ready to play tough points because the last matches with her have been really close. The last time we played was at the Masters in Madrid and it could have gone either way. I expect it will be close again tomorrow," Clijsters said.

Mauresmo beat the 23-year-old 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in an epic duel in the Sony Ericsson WTA Championships semifinals, but would go on to lose the final in the Spanish capital against Justine Henin.

Clijsters says it will be an emotional day for her on Sunday, saying goodbye to her Belgian fans, but forgets about her feelings once she steps out on court. “During the match, I don’t think about these things. But I’m sure afterwards it is going to be tough.”

For Mauresmo, stakes are high in Sunday’s final because if the Frenchwoman wins the title after claiming the Tier II event in 2006 and 2005, she will take home the diamond racket trophy, worth over a million dollars.

“Every match I win, the racket gets more on my mind,” she said. “But obviously, the final is the toughest to win. The way I played today, I need to improve. I didn’t return well and had a lot of ups and downs.”

The 27-year-old No. 3 took on Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze, who made her Top-10 breakthrough yesterday when she defeated Nadia Petrova.

CHAKVETADZE FAULTERS IN THIRD SET
Chakvetadze and Mauresmo met at last week’s Paris quarterfinal, when Mauresmo advanced in straight sets. One week later, just 200 miles north from the French capital, “Momo” again claimed the win: 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Chakvetadze played well until she lost her rhythm and dropped serve at 3-4. The Russian hit two double faults and a couple of backhand unforced errors, providing Mauresmo with a 5-3 lead.

The top-seeded Frenchwoman benefited from more Chakvetadze errors to produce a love game and claim the first set.

Chakvetadze kept hitting unforced errrors from both sides at the start of the second set. Mauresmo held break points in the 19-year-old’s first two service games, but wasn’t clinical in her finishing. Chakvetadze survived and got back into the match after she broke serve in Mauresmo’s next service game. The seventh seed hit a screaming forehand down the line on break point for a 3-1 lead. She served for the set at 5-3 and convincingly put herself back on even terms.

Chakvetadze had the momentum heading into the third set but missed a crucial forehand on a weak Mauresmo second serve at 15-30 in the opening game. She couldn’t break and followed up with an erratic game, hitting two double faults and backhand unforced errors to put Mauresmo in the driving seat.

The former No.1 raced out to 4-0 when the Russian was broken again. At 4-2, she could have put the match back on serve, but hit three consecutive forehand errors from 15-30. Mauresmo ended the match with another break to secure her third straight final appearance in Antwerp.