World No. 1 Justine Henin stretched her winning streak to 27 matches as she defeated fourth-ranked Ana Ivanovic to set up a one-versus-two final with Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Sydney International yesterday.
Henin claimed her 56th WTA Tour final appearance with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win over the 20-year-old Serb.
Kuznetsova overcame unseeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova in the other semi-final, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4).
It is the first time since February 2006 in Antwerp that the two top ranked players have met in a WTA final.
Kuznetsova trails Henin 15-2 in career match-ups.
The Belgian is chasing her third win in the Sydney tournament, having won the title against Amelie Mauresmo in 2004 and Francesca Schiavone in 2006.
Henin overcame Ivanovic despite a faltering 47 percent serve which conceded 11 double-faults and was broken three times.
But just as Henin looked in danger when Ivanovic levelled at a set all, she broke the young Serb in the third game of the final set when she netted an attempted backhand pass.
Henin surged to victory from there as Ivanovic struggled and netted with a backhand on match point. She now leads Ivanovic 4-0 in career meetings.
Henin went into the final on the back of just one match against Estonia's Kaia Kanepi after a bye and a walkover against Lucie Safarova in the opening rounds of the tournament.
Meanwhile in the men's tournament Radek Stepanek, benefiting from an off-season of high altitude training in Mexico, won through to the semi-finals yesterday.
The 32nd-ranked Czech brushed aside Argentina's Agustin Calleri 6-2, 6-4 to set up a semi-final against young Australian power server Chris Guccione.
Guccione came from a set down to overhaul Stepanek's Davis Cup teammate and fourth seed Tomas Berdych, winning 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 in just over two hours.
In yesterday's remaining quarter-finals Fabrice Santoro of France beat Russian Evgeny Korolev 6-3, 6-3 and Russia's Dmitry Tursunov defeated Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, 6-2.
RODDICK REACHES FINAL
AFP, MELBOURNE
Andy Roddick continued his bid for a Kooyong Classic hat-trick yesterday with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Marat Safin to reach his fourth consecutive final.
Roddick braved 41oC temperatures for the quickfire win, which sets him up for tomorrow's final against either Marcos Baghdatis or Fernando Gonzalez.
Roddick was beaten in the 2005 final by Roger Federer but then won the 2006 edition against Tommy Haas before taking his revenge over the top-ranked Swiss last year.
Meanwhile Britain's Andy Murray said he had never been in better shape for a major as he bounced back from his opening Kooyong Classic defeat to beat Ivan Ljubicic 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-2.
Murray looked in trouble at a set and 0-3 down, but then reeled off five straight games on the way to levelling before dominating the third.
Ljubicic lost his opening match to America's Andy Roddick, the two-time defending champion.
GREEK DELIGHT
AP, HOBART, AUSTRALIA
Greece's Eleni Daniilidou will meet Russian Vera Zvonareva in the final of the Hobart International after both won their semi-finals in straight sets yesterday.
Daniilidou beat Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-3 to advance to her first WTA Tour final since 2006.
No. 2 seed Zvonareva beat US qualifier Ashley Harkleroad 6-2, 6-1.
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