No. 3 seed, #3 Kim Clijsters of Belgium won in straight sets over No. 2 seed, #2 Vera Zvonareva of Russia to reach the Final of the 2011 Australian Open.
Clijsters handled Zvonareva quite easily winning 6-3, 6-3, hitting 18 winners with 18 unforced errors compared to Zvonareva’s 14 winers and 21 unforced errors. Clijsters scored on 4 of the 7 break points she reached against Zvonareva, while Zvonareva converted only 1 of 3 break points against Clijsters.
After the match, Clijsters commented: “I was happy with the way I played. Happy that I was able to raise my level against an opponent where I have to play well and where I have to be very consistent throughout it all… I was able to stay very aggressive throughout it all, and keep my unforced errors down, and put a lot of pressure on
Zvonareva said: “I think [Kim] played a very good match, very clean match. I tried to hang in there. I knew what I had to do, but I think she was executing her shots really well. The quality my shots weren’t maybe good enough to hurt her today. She was playing fast, and that maybe affected my game a little bit, and I was playing a little bit too short and passive. I was trying to turn it around, but she was on top of me today, and it was a little bit difficult for me.”
Clijsters will now meet No. 9 seed, #11 Na Li of China in the Final. Li took out World No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki in the other Semifinal match, a thrilling 3-setter, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Clijsters leads their head-to-head series 4-2, but Li won the last time they played less than two weeks ago in the Final in Sydney 7-6(3), 6-3. It should be a great Final.
