Melbourne: Belgium's Kim Clijsters wasted little time flattening second seed Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-3 with an awesome display of power tennis to reach her second Australian Open final on Thursday.
Third seed Clijsters, the 2004 Melbourne runner-up, will face Chinese ninth seed Li Na in Saturday's final after overpowering her Russian opponent in just 73 minutes.
"I'm happy that I was able to raise my level," Clijsters told reporters. "It's nice to be one of the last two standing and I'll try to finish on top.
"It's a nice feeling knowing there's only one more match to play," added the three-times grand slam champion, who lost to Li in the Sydney final in the run-up to Melbourne.
"She (Li) doesn't have any big weakness. It should be a good one!"
Clijsters, lime green dress and visor shimmering in the sunshine, simply had too many weapons for Zvonareva's comfort, taking the first set with a fierce drive volley.
Zvonareva's big match temperament has been questioned in the past and her fragility showed on the key points, loose shots and fluffed volleys frequently letting her down.
The second set followed a similar pattern, Clijsters chasing Zvonareva all over Rod Laver Arena and the former world number one completed an easy victory with a delicate drop volley.
Clijsters, who also thrashed Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 in last year's US Open final, will replace the Russian as the world number two after her seventh win in their 10 meetings when the new rankings are published.
"She was executing really well," Zvonareva lamented. "Kim was playing perfectly. I tried to hang in there but the quality of my shots were not enough to hurt her. I was too passive."
Comments
0 comment