Jelena Jankovic will play Kim Clijsters in the women's final of the Sydney International after a gruelling three-set victory over Nicole Vaidisova yesterday.
The rising Serbian 21-year-old player overcame two injury time-outs for back trouble in the second set to defeat the eighth-seeded Czech 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in just over two hours.
It will be Jankovic's second final in as many weeks. She won in Auckland, New Zealand, last weekend and has now moved to a career-high ranking of 11.
PHOTO: AP
Clijsters earlier had a torrid three-set victory over China's Li Na, 6-1, 1-6, 7-5.
The Belgian world No.5 mastered the enervating court conditions to get past Li, ranked 21, in 95 minutes and reach her second Sydney final.
It has been an amazing week for Jankovic. She is 9-0 for the year and so far this week has taken the scalps of Grand Slam champions Martina Hingis and Amelie Mauresmo.
If Jankovic can beat Clijsters she could rise to No.10 in the rankings. Clijsters will stay at her current five ranking.
Clijsters, who was the Sydney champion in 2003, and is 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 rubberized hardcourt.
"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.
"It went a little too long maybe but it was fun," Clijsters said.
"It's nice to be out on the court like this and be challenged, not just by your opponent but by the heat and everything," she said.
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