Clijsters reaches Sydney final after tough test

SYDNEY: Kim Clijsters had the ideal Australian Open workout with a torrid three-set victory over China's Li Na to reach the final of the Sydney International on Thursday.

The Belgian world No.5 mastered the enervating court conditions to get past the 21-ranked Li, 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 in 95 minutes and reach her second Sydney final.

Clijsters, who was the Sydney champion in 2003, and in her final year on the circuit before retiring, had to crank up her game after comfortable straight sets wins in her earlier two matches. She found Li a tenacious opponent on top of the sapping heat on the rubberised hard-court.

"My first two matches here were pretty easy, and then winning this one in three sets, a close one, I really got tested," Clijsters said.

The players took an extreme heat time-out after the second set, but the final set was the longest of the match, 39 minutes, before Clijsters prevailed when Li missed an overhead smash on match point.

"She's a very powerful girl and moves well, has a good serve, and she's a good player," Clijsters said of Li. "She's really improved a lot."

Li forced the Belgian to scramble around the court with her deep accurate groundstrokes but the third seed kept in the match with her tremendous defensive game and her trademark splits.