Kim Clijsters reaches the final of the Eastbourne grass court tournament (AP Photo) |
The seventh-seeded Belgian beat defending champion and second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the semifinals, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Clijsters was up 5-4 in the final game, but fell behind three break points right away. However, the former world number one fought back and clinched the win on her second match point.
Clijsters will face another Russian, unseeded Vera Douchevina, in the final. Douchevina beat unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci in the other semifinal, 2-6, 7-6, 6-3. Earlier in the day, Vinci had upset fourth-seeded Anastasia Myskina, also of Russia, in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 7-6.
The tournament is a key warm-up for the third major tournament of the year, the Wimbledon Championships, which start Monday in London.
Some information for this report provided by AP.