Clijsters, Pierce Make Breaks

It’s hard to believe the old Kim Clijsters would have pulled herself together for a third set after failing to convert, not one, or two, but five match points in the second set against Maria Sharapova of Russia in the U.S. Open tennis semifinals.

Maybe the once mentally fragile Belgian is truly gone, having vanished after a breakthrough, comeback victory over Venus Williams in the previous round. Still, that won’t be known until after tonight’s final against 12th-seeded Mary Pierce of France.

The fourth-seeded Clijsters was able to keep her head together in an eventual 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3 victory over top-seeded Sharapova here Friday. So what if she needed 52 more minutes after her first match point?

It pushed her to her fifth Grand Slam singles final, after four runner-up showings. Tonight, Clijsters will be playing for the chance to win $2.2 million, the largest payout in women’s sports, by virtue of her first-place finish in the U.S. Open Series.

For Pierce, the challenge was to keep her body together, and she had assistance from a trainer in a controversial 12-minute injury timeout on the way to defeating No. 6 Elena Dementieva of Russia, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

After losing the opening set in 34 minutes, Pierce sought treatment from WTA Tour trainer Carole Doherty, who worked on Pierce’s right thigh and lower back. Since Pierce does everything so s-l-o-w-l-y on the court, it’s no surprise this medical break seemed to last for eons.

Dementieva tried to stay loose, and even practiced her serve, but she was done once they resumed. Her game fell apart, especially once Pierce started making shots she had been missing. Dementieva committed five of her six double faults in the last two sets, and of her 32 unforced errors, 27 were in the second and third.

Everyone stressed that Pierce’s long interruption was within the rules, though the spirit of sportsmanship appeared to have been greatly stretched. Dementieva, who was hit hard with questions about the incident in the interview room, said she did not think it was fair play but noted that the timeout was allowed.

“I don’t think it’s a good thing to have such a long break,” Dementieva said. “Three minutes, it’s good enough.... But I don’t think it’s fun for the players and the crowd just to see her 12 minutes lying down and [having] some treatment.”

Then Pierce took the stand for the defense. She said there had been no gamesmanship involved. “No, no, not at all,” said Pierce, who will be appearing in her second Slam final this year, coming off a loss at Roland Garros. “I mean, I’m 30 years old. I don’t believe in that. I don’t think that that will make a difference.... I had injuries that I needed to attend to, to help me. I was hoping that would help, that I could play better, and it did.”

Pierce’s slow pace between points has often been an issue, but Clijsters said it would not bother her. She is 2-0 against Pierce, but they haven’t played since the winter of 2004.

If anything, Clijsters had a preview -- a shorter one -- of what could happen against Pierce when Sharapova took a bathroom break after winning the second set. The interruption seemed to hurt Sharapova.

Seemingly, she held the momentum after fighting off the five match points in the 12th game of the second. Sharapova was serving at 5-6, and fell behind, 0-40. Clijsters’ first match point featured a terrific, and long, rally, which Sharapova won with a drop shot. She hit a winner on the second, Clijsters returned a serve long on the third. Sharapova hit a 104-mph service winner on the fourth and another service winner on the fifth.

“I know I didn’t play bad points there,” Clijsters said. “She had to come up with good shots and she did. She probably hit better shots in those points than she hit in the whole match.”

Curiously, Sharapova came out flat in the third, getting broken at 15 in the first game and quickly fell behind, 0-4. After winning Wimbledon in 2004, she ended up reaching the semifinals in three of the four Slams this year, and two of those losses were in three sets.

“Once the points were getting longer, obviously, it was at Kim’s advantage,” Sharapova said. “Physically, I still have to get a lot better and I have to play these three-setters. The points are going to go on and on and on.”

Though Sharapova will retake the No. 1 ranking on Monday, she is far from a finished product, seeming to wear down in the latter stages of Slams or in back-to-back tournaments.

“You know, this is not something that’s going to happen overnight. I’m only 18 and this is going to take time,” she said.