These Women Have Final Clearance

Women’s tennis seems to be all about minimizing expectations.

That being done, and out of the way, paved the way for a sensational but shortened afternoon today at the Australian Open. Eighth-seeded and former champion Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium and No. 4 Maria Sharapova of Russia played arguably the best women’s match of the tournament, as Henin-Hardenne won their semifinal, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, in 2 hours 26 minutes.

In the final, Henin-Hardenne will play No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo of France, who defeated Kim Clijsters of Belgium, 5-7, 6-2, 3-2 (retired), in the second semifinal. Clijsters was forced to stop playing because of an injury suffered in the fifth game of the deciding set.

She turned over on her right ankle when she went to change directions. That mishap came at a key moment, as Clijsters was facing break point, which Mauresmo converted with a backhand cross-court winner. Clijsters had her ankle taped on the changeover but was only able to play one point in the next game and then walked to the net to shake hands.

“It’s very strange -- we’ve had such a great battle till she just twisted the ankle,” Mauresmo said. “It’s a little bit of an unfinished match.”

This will be Mauresmo’s first appearance in a Grand Slam final since she lost here in 1999.

“I can’t remember I made the final,” she said, smiling. “Yeah it’s a long time. I’m very happy to do it again.”

Henin-Hardenne landed in the final first by seemingly covering every inch of the court. Sharapova ran her side to side, but Henin-Hardenne kept forcing her to make the extra shot with a tenacious display of defense.

Case in point was in the sixth game of the third set. Sharapova was serving at 2-3, 40-30 when Henin-Hardenne made a series of incredible runs with the point finally ending when Sharapova’s forehand was called wide. Two points later, Henin-Hardenne had the break to go ahead, 4-2.

“I think it was a great match, that’s the only thing I can say,” Henin-Hardenne said. “It’s been very intense physically and mentally. Maria played a great match, the best I’ve seen her play in a long time.”

And now, to the point of lowering expectations. The way that some of the players have been talking in Melbourne, they’ve sounded as if they were being held together the last few weeks with masking tape. The lowering of the bar has been getting almost competitive, if not comical.

“I played some great tennis after not expecting to be here,” Sharapova said.

With Sharapova having lost in the semifinals of four of the last five Slams, does the S in Sharapova stand for semifinals?

“Look, guys, I know you are reporters and I know this is your job, but take your notepads, take your pencils down,” Sharapova said. “Put everything away and just watch the match, from just the fans’ perspective. I seriously think that the quality of the match today was great.

” ... Of course I’m disappointed, but I did not expect myself to play this great at this tournament. For me to be able to go out there and to play the quality of tennis that I did today, I think it was great.”

Clijsters had no such trouble in her highly anticipated match against Martina Hingis. Clijsters reclaimed the No. 1 ranking from Lindsay Davenport by defeating former three-time champion and wild-card entrant Hingis of Switzerland in the quarterfinals, winning, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, in 1 hour 42 minutes. It ended Hingis’ fun-filled ride through the draw in what was her Grand Slam return to women’s tennis, her first appearance at a major since the U.S. Open in 2002.

But the way the 25-year-old Hingis was able to push Clijsters showed that her return was not simply a nostalgia-laden, novelty act in the land of power tennis.

Contending again for a major, however, may be a different story.

“Under all the circumstances, I lost only 6-4 in the third against the No. 1 player, starting from Monday, so I don’t think that’s bad after all,” Hingis said.

“Just one step further.... You can’t just [have] three years pass by, you can’t think you’re going to step out there and win everything.

“Considering I only wanted to play doubles at these events, it didn’t turn out that badly.”

Certainly, Hingis had her chances in the third set with points to take the first two games but couldn’t convert her chances as Clijsters got out to a 2-0 lead. Hingis had one more surge, erasing Clijsters’ 3-1 third-set lead to pull to 3-3, 30-30. Two points later, Clijsters had the service break and never looked back.

Hingis, who is hitting harder than when she left the game three years ago, joked about it the technology of the racket helping.

“I always tell Yonex, ‘Come on, I need more power,’ ” she said, smiling.