Belgians Will Meet Again

In watching Belgium’s Kim Clijsters, it was difficult to say whether it was harder for her to face Patty Schnyder of Switzerland and her tennis racket or commentator John McEnroe and his microphone.

She took on two left-handers Thursday at the Australian Open. Schnyder was the first hurdle and a seemingly easy semifinal turned tense for a few minutes before the second-seeded Clijsters steadied her nerve and won, 6-2, 7-6 (2), in 1 hour 14 minutes. In Saturday’s final, she will face a familiar opponent, No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, who defeated Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia, 6-2, 6-2, in 1 hour 16 minutes.

Clijsters’ second hurdle was McEnroe, who is working for Australian television. Her face-to-face showdown with him at Rod Laver Arena may have been shorter but fraught with more potential verbal landmines, more dangerous than any of the lefty slices and spins Schnyder was able to throw her way.

She was asked by him about losing three Grand Slam finals, including two last year to Henin-Hardenne. Had she learned anything?

“I hope so,” Clijsters said. “I’ve changed a few things ... I hope I’ve learned from a lot of those losses. Hopefully third time lucky.”

Then questions got progressively more difficult, almost the way the rallies did late in the second set.

Said McEnroe, of Henin-Hardenne: “Tell us the truth, you don’t really like her?” Clijsters: “I do, I do.”

Then there was this concession. “Maybe on the court because she moves so quick ... I can curse a little bit on the court when she gets those balls back,” Clijsters said.

Clijsters was laughing as she made that last statement and seemed to be getting used to the give-and-take with McEnroe.

To be sure, there was a tangible relief in her camp because there had been concern over her re-injured left ankle. She hurt it in the quarterfinals and it needed re-taping by the trainer in that match. Clijsters tested it on Thursday in practice and showed no signs of a loss of mobility.

If there were any fears, they were erased when she executed her sliding trademark splits twice in the same point in the second game of the second set.

“It’s not going to get any better than what it’s been,” she said. “I have to sit down and think about what’s going to happen after the Australian Open. I can’t make it any worse, probably a good thing as well.”

It helped her cause that Schnyder was the semifinal opponent, not one of the Williams sisters, Venus or Serena, or an experienced hand at Grand Slams, such as a Lindsay Davenport. This was the first time Schnyder had reached the semifinal of a major, and the same was true with Zuluaga.

Call them the accidental semifinalists.

Zuluaga does not appear to be a likely candidate to return. She had to beat the likes of Jill Craybas and Aniko Kapros and received a walkover against an injured Amelie Mauresmo of France to make the final four.

Henin-Hardenne did not play particularly well but didn’t need to lift her level.

“The quarters, it was a very good match against Lindsay,” Henin-Hardenne said. “And it’s really different. It’s very hard to compare. But I think that today I was there from the first point till the end of the match. And that was the key, to stay concentrated on every point.”

Henin-Hardenne will be trying to win her second consecutive Slam, having defeated Clijsters in the U.S. Open final. If she takes her first Australian Open title, Henin-Hardenne will have won three of the last four majors.

The role of the favorite has been something of an adjustment.

“It’s been a very difficult tournament for me because it was new, being here, being the first seed,” said Henin-Hardenne, 8-9 vs. Clijsters. “That wasn’t easy every day, especially at the beginning of the tournament. But I change the situation since the quarters, and I’m feeling better.

“But the final is going to be another match, another tough match. And I know I’ll have to improve my level again if I want to take this title.”

Clijsters, like Henin-Hardenne, will be playing in her first Australian Open final. Perhaps the semifinal victory helped ease the pain of last year’s semifinal collapse against Serena Williams in which Clijsters blew two match points and a 5-1 third-set lead.

She has had problems closing out matches, and needed six match points to finally defeat Anastasia Myskina in the quarterfinals. It seemed as though Schnyder might force a third set after she finally came to life in the second.

Schnyder rallied from a 1-3 second-set deficit and worked her way back into it when Clijsters grew curiously tentative. But she failed to serve out the second set, at 5-4, with Clijsters breaking her at 15. Earlier in the set, Schnyder needed attention from the trainer, who appeared to tape her right ankle and shin.

Clijsters dominated the tiebreak, unlike the way she did against Myskina, opening up leads of 3-0 and 5-1. This time, she needed only one match point, landing in another All-Belgian final by hitting a forehand winner.

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Second-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland defeated No. 8 David Nalbandian of Argentina, 7-5, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, in the quarterfinals, avenging a loss to Nalbandian here last year in the fourth round. Federer will play No. 3 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in the semifinals.

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Australian Open

At Melbourne Park:

MEN’S SEMIFINALS

* Andre Agassi (4) vs. Marat Safin, Russia.

* Juan Carlos Ferrero (3), Spain, vs. Roger Federer (2), Switzerland.

WOMEN’S SEMIFINALS

* Justine Henin-Hardenne (1), Belgium def. Fabiola Zuluaga (32), Colombia, 6-2, 6-2.

* Kim Clijsters (2), Belgium def. Patty Schnyder (22), Switzerland, 6-2, 7-6 (2).

MEN’S DOUBLES SEMIFINALS

* Michael Llodra-Fabrice Santoro (5), France, def. Gaston Etlis-Martin Rodriguez (9), Argentina, 6-2, 7-5.

* Bob Bryan-Mike Bryan (1) vs. Jonas Bjorkman, Sweden-Todd Woodbridge (3), Australia.

Note: The Bryans match and Agassi-Safin were played after press time. For results, go to latimes.com/tennis.

WOMEN’S DOUBLES FINALS

* Virginia Ruano Pascual-Paola Suarez (1), Argentina vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova-Elena Likhovtseva (4), Russia.

TODAY ON TV

* Agassi vs. Safin: ESPN, 11 a.m. (tape); women’s doubles final: ESPN2, 8 p.m.

How They Got There

A look at the players defeated by the women’s finalists:

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE (1)

* First round -- def. Olivia Lukaszewicz, 6-0, 6-0.

* Second round -- def. Camille Pin, 6-1, 6-4.

* Third round -- def. Svetlana Kuznetsova (30), 6-2, 7-5.

* Fourth round -- def. Mara Santangelo, 6-1, 7-6 (5).

* Quarterfinals -- def. Lindsay Davenport (5), 7-5, 6-3.

* Semifinals -- def. Fabiola Zuluaga (32), 6-2, 6-2.

KIM CLIJSTERS (2)

* First round -- def. Marlene Weingartner, 6-3, 6-2.

* Second round -- def. Maria Elena Camerin, 6-0, 6-0.

* Third round -- def. Dinara Safina, 6-2, 6-1.

* Fourth round -- def. Silvia Farina Elia (20), 6-3, 6-3.

* Quarterfinals -- def. Anastasia Myskina (6), 6-2, 7-6 (9).

* Semifinals -- def. Patty Schnyder (22), 6-2, 7-6 (2).

Head-to-Head

Clijsters leads the overall series, 9-8. They are 2-2 against each other in Grand Slams:

* 2001 French Open semifinals: Clijsters, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

* 2002 Australian Open quarterfinals: Clijsters, 7-5, 6-2.

* 2003 French Open final: Henin-Hardenne, 6-0, 6-4.

* 2003 U.S. Open final: Henin-Hardenne, 7-5, 6-1.

On different surfaces:

* Hard...Clijsters leads, 5-3.

* Clay...Henin-Hardenne leads, 4-1.

* Grass...Tied, 1-1.

* Indoors...Clijsters leads, 2-0.