DOHA, Qatar (AP)—Kim Clijsters reached the WTA Championships final for the first time in seven years after maintaining her domination of Sam Stosur by beating the Australian 7-6 (3), 6-1 on Saturday.
Clijsters showed no sign on court of being involved in a car accident on her way to Khalifa Complex. A door on her courtesy car was damaged.
The Belgian winner of the elite event in 2002 and 2003 faces either No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki or No. 2 Vera Zvonareva on Sunday.
Even though Stosur had lost all four of her previous matches against Clijsters, she was confident of becoming the first Australian finalist since Evonne Googalong Cawley in 1978, especially after beating Wozniacki in the group stage.
Stosur jumped out to 3-0 in the first set with the help of her trademark forehand. But Clijsters kept coming back and forced a tiebreaker, hitting several backhand winners down the line and others that caught the corners. She served more consistently than she had all week, racking up six aces during the match and keeping her double faults—a problem in her first match—to only two.
The U.S. Open champion went up 3-0 in the second set, taking advantage of an apparent letdown from Stosur after the tough first-set loss. Stosur started hitting her forehands far and wide on her way to 25 unforced errors. A backhand long gave Clijsters a 4-1 lead and a forehand long made it 5-1.
“I have had really tough matches against Samantha in the past. I knew I had to play my best tennis today,” Clijsters said.
“In the first set, I played well in important points. In the second she dropped her level a bit. I had an early chance to break and I did and it gave me confidence to serve it out and I did.”
Stosur praised Clijsters for opening up the court and playing the better match.
“I think she started serving quite well as the match went on. She really hit her corners well and got me kind of out of the court and was able to open it up,” Stosur said.
“The end of that first set and the second set, she started using her backhand down the line more and hit some right on the line right when she needed to, and some close to,” she said. “Overall, I thought she just played very solid. There’s not too many weaknesses in Kim’s game. You’ve got to find them when they’re there and really try and take advantage.”