Kim Clijsters was standing at the service line yesterday, in command against Serena Williams and with a place in the Australian Open final so close she could almost taste it.
Then the collapse.
Two match points came and went as she served with a 5-2 lead in the third set, only to be broken as Williams gathered her nerve, harnessed her power and bore down on the Belgian like a steam train.
Twice Clijsters served for the match, twice she was broken. The second time she hit two consecutive double-faults to start the game, allowing Williams to level at 5-5.
Then just as quickly it was over. Williams, her right foot heavily bandaged because of three blisters, won their semifinal 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in one of the great fight backs of Grand Slam history.
The 19-year-old Clijsters was suddenly left to pick up the pieces.
``I can't blame myself for anything,'' Clijsters insisted. ``I just kept trying and tried to hang in there. At the end it just wasn't good enough.''
It completed a black day for Belgium, after Justine Henin-Hardenne earlier yesterday lost her semifinal against Venus Williams 6-3, 6-3.
Agassi through
Meanwhile, in the men's draw, a businesslike Andre Agassi warned that he was "better than ever" after demolishing South African Wayne Ferreira 6-2 6-2 6-3 to reach his fourth Australian Open final.
Having flattened Ferreira with ruthless efficiency, the 32-year-old American declared he was on a mission to add to his collection of seven grand slam titles this year.
"It's my motivation to always improve. I'm sort of fueled by that. Overall, I do feel ... stronger. I move better on the court, I'm more experienced, so my vote would be yes," the second seed said when asked if he felt he was in the best shape of his life.
"To me, getting to the quarters of a slam gives yourself a look at the basket. To lose the final of the US Open [to Pete Sampras last year] was definitely disappointing, especially with the way I was playing."
But Agassi, bidding to become the first overseas player to win four men's singles titles at the Australian Open, insisted that his job was only half done.
"You got to come out and play and you got to come out and earn it," said Agassi, who will face either Andy Roddick or Rainer Schuettler in Sunday's final.
But it was Clijsters' loss that was the most dramatic.
Seeded fourth, Clijsters had entered her seventh clash against Serena as perhaps the hottest player of the Australian Open, having won 17 consecutive singles matches and 24 of her past 25. She beat both Williams' on the way to winning the season-ending WTA Championships in November.
A breath away
Yesterday a second Grand Slam final was twice just a point away. But with boyfriend and men's world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt sitting in the stands, she could not close it out.
Clijsters insisted nerves had not got the better of her.
``I wasn't nervous at all,'' she said. Her only regret was the two double faults in the 10th game of the final set.
``I was feeling pretty good, even that game, she said.
``I don't know if I would do anything different in those games where I was up. I think she just started playing so much more aggressive and she hardly made any unforced errors anymore, compared to in the beginning of that third set.
``That's when you have to say `too good.' You know, that's why she's No. 1."
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