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Clijsters collapses as Serena soars Posted: Thursday January 23, 2003 6:28 AMMELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Kim Clijsters was standing at the service line, in command against Serena Williams and with a place in the Australian Open final so close she could almost taste it. Then the collapse. Two match points came and went as she served with a 5-2 lead in the third set, only to be broken as Williams gathered her nerve, harnessed her power and bore down on the Belgian like a steam train. Twice Clijsters served for the match, twice she was broken. The second time she hit two consecutive double-faults to start the game, allowing Williams to level at 5-5. Then just as quickly it was over. Williams, her right foot heavily bandaged because of three blisters, won their semifinal 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in one of the great fight backs of Grand Slam history. The 19-year-old Clijsters was suddenly left to pick up the pieces. "I can't blame myself for anything," Clijsters insisted. "I just kept trying and tried to hang in there. At the end it just wasn't good enough." It brought back memories of Jana Novotna's stunning defeat by Steffi Graf in the 1993 Wimbledon final after the Czech had a point for 5-1 lead in the third set. It completed a black day for Belgium, after Justine Henin-Hardenne earlier Thursday lost her semifinal against Venus Williams 6-3, 6-3. But it was Clijsters' loss that was the most dramatic. Seeded fourth, Clijsters had entered her seventh clash against Serena as perhaps the hottest player of the Australian Open, having won 17 consecutive singles matches and 24 of her past 25. She beat both Williams' on the way to winning the season-ending WTA Championships in November. At the 2001 French Open, Clijsters had come from behind to down fellow Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne and make the final, where she fell to Jennifer Capriati. On Thursday a second Grand Slam final was twice just a point away. But with boyfriend and men's world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt sitting in the stands, she could not close it out. "Of course I'm disappointed because I was close to beating her. On the other hand, I gave it everything I had," a bemused Clijsters said. "I was close, really close to winning that. It's disappointing, but I just try to keep my chin up." Clijsters insisted nerves had not got the better of her. "I wasn't nervous at all," she said. Her only regret was the two double faults in the 10th game of the final set. "I was feeling pretty good, even that game, she said. "I don't know if I would do anything different in those games where I was up. I think she just started playing so much more aggressive and she hardly made any unforced errors anymore, compared to in the beginning of that third set. "That's when you have to say 'too good'. You know, that's why she's No. 1. That's why she's won the last three Grand Slams in a row." As Williams began to let loose with her big ground strokes, Clijsters tightened up. "She took the risks, she came to the net and just went for it," the Belgian said of the match points Williams saved. "All credit to her." The Belgian now heads home for a brief break before returning to match-play in Antwerp next month. As Clijsters was coming to terms with the manner of her defeat, Henin-Hardenne also was left to look for answers after her loss to Venus Williams. Henin-Hardenne, still feeling the effects of her three set epic against Lindsay Davenport in round four, never looked likely to beat the elder Williams but pushed Venus at times, playing deep and making her work. The Belgian broke when Williams served for the match at 5-2 in the second set, but it proved only a momentary delay for Venus. It was seventh loss in eight meetings for Henin-Hardenne. "For sure I wasn't fresh like I could be if I didn't have this match but ... Venus played much more aggressive than me, she returned well, she served well and came more often to the net than me," said the fifth-seeded Henin-Hardenne. "She was really aggressive, so nothing to say." The score sheet said it, for both.
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