Clijsters Can’t Cover for This

Youth, and Grand Slam inexperience, may have caused teenager Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic to unravel when she served for a spot in the French Open final at 5-4 in the second set against Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.

And Kim Clijsters’ story?

It could have been the mysterious Le Quotidien curse. In translation, “The Daily” newspaper of the French Open has served something like a Sports Illustrated jinx or, as they say here, “malediction.” Previous cover girls Tatiana Golovin, Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis and now Clijsters have all been taken down.

Then again, it’s becoming obvious that fellow Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne is Clijsters’ malediction, especially on a clay court.

Henin-Hardenne, a two-time French Open champion, has defeated Clijsters four consecutive times on clay, including Thursday’s one-sided semifinal.

The fifth-seeded Henin-Hardenne defeated No. 2 Clijsters, 6-3, 6-2, in 69 minutes, winning nine of the last 11 games Thursday. In Saturday’s final, she will face No. 8 Kuznetsova, who defeated the 17-year-old Vaidisova, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2, in 2 hours 31 minutes.

Vaidisova, seeded 16th, was appearing in her first Grand Slam semifinal, and played nearly flawless tennis for much of the first two sets, at one point winning six straight games to close out the first set and take a 2-0 lead in the second. She served for the match at 5-4 and was broken at 15, double-faulting to lose the game.

But she had another shot at it, rallying from a 1-4 deficit in the tiebreaker. At 5-5, Kuznetsova hit a drop shot, and it bounced up higher than she wanted. Vaidisova moved in and smacked an easy forehand well wide. Instead of Vaidisova holding match point, Kuznetsova had set point, which she converted.

“That was definitely not the first point that came to my mind,” Vaidisova said. “I had my chances. Of course, I did.”

Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion, has been in difficult spots here before, losing after holding match points at the French Open in 2004 and 2005.

“Sometimes, it comes back to you, not only going the other way,” she said of her comeback effort against Vaidisova.

”... But this is also experience. Like, if you hit to her all the time, it’s so comfortable. The stronger sometimes you hit, the stronger she will answer it. Sometimes you change a little bit ... and then she does mistake.”

Kuznetsova’s lost match points in 2005 came in the fourth round against Henin-Hardenne, who went on to win the championship. On Saturday, Henin-Hardenne will be aiming for her first Grand Slam title of 2006, having retired in the Australian Open final in January against Amelie Mauresmo of France, citing stomach pains apparently caused by overuse of anti-inflammatories.

“I won’t be taking any anti-inflammatories on Saturday, I can assure you,” Henin-Hardenne said.