Clijsters to meet Kuznetsova in Warsaw Cup final

WARSAW: Kim Clijsters claimed her 10th win in 13 meetings with Elena Dementieva on Saturday to reach the final of the Warsaw Cup, beating the third seeded Russian 7-5, 6-4.

In her second final of the year, following her runner-up finish to Amelie Mauresmo in Antwerp, the top seeded Belgian will next face fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who overwhelmed Anna Chakvetadze 6-1, 6-1 in an all-Russian clash.

"We've always had very tough matches, but they're fun matches to play," said Clijsters. "There's a lot of very tough rallies, so I knew from the start it was going to be tough and I was going to have to play well at the important points. That's what I did well today."

Clijsters struggled to claim the first set and had trouble with her timing as she dropped her serve twice to fall behind 3-0. And although she began to settle and recovered one break in the fourth game, Dementieva kept up the pressure and held off five break points in a lengthy sixth game.

Clijsters, who began to step more into the ball in an effort to counteract her opponent's strong forehand, finally got back on level terms when a forehand error from Dementieva allowed her to break for 4-4. 

Clijsters then dropped her own serve for the third time, but Dementieva was unable to serve out for the set as the Belgian broke for 5-5. Clijsters then broke again, to love, in the 12th game as Dementieva hit her first double-fault on set point.

Clijsters had to be patient in the second set, fighting off a break point in the opening game and then dealing with the frustration of failing to break at 1-0 when Dementieva struck a further four double-faults in the game.

 But she finally achieved the breakthrough she needed at 5-4, breaking for the match when Dementieva made a forehand error.