• Sony Ericsson Open

Clijsters beats Henin in Miami thriller

Venus Williams was too powerful for Marion Bartoli © Getty Images

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Thursday gallery

Kim Clijsters survived a stunning fightback from Belgian rival Justine Henin to claim a place in the Sony Ericsson Open final with a 6-2 6-7(3) 7-6(6) win.

Clijsters appeared to be cruising at a set and a break up, but Henin is a renowned battler and forced the second set into a tie break which she took in real style.

Henin roared into a 2-0 lead in the decider, only for Clihsters to fight back and go 4-2 ahead. The see-saw nature of the contest continued into a tie-break.

Clijsters lost the first two points of the breaker but roared back to secure three match points. Henin dug in to save the match points, but Clijsters kept her head in front and following a long rally sealed victory with a fine forehand down the line.

Venus Williams powered into the final, beating Marion Bartoli in straight sets in a repeat of the 2007 Wimbledon final.

Back then Bartoli was playing in her first Grand Slam final, and she found herself somewhat overawed in a 6-4 6-1 loss. Defeat was more respectable this time, but Williams was still always in control on her way to a 6-3 6-4 victory.

The seven-time Grand Slam winner was by no means flawless in Thursday's semi-final, conceding a break in either set, but Williams was absolutely unsympathetic to the Bartoli second serve as she broke on four occasions of her own. Williams won 13 of 18 points when Bartoli's first serve failed to find its target, and that proved the crucial factor in the match.

Clijsters will have spotted weaknesses in Williams' game as she struggled for rhythm on her own serve, coughing up three double faults in the first set. However, her punishing forehand and smearing backhand always carried too much force for Bartoli, who spent much of the contest attempting to hang in the rallies.

When Williams upped her first serve percentage from 51 percent to 68 in the second set it was always going to spell game, set and match, with Williams advancing to the final inside 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, in the men's competition, Tomas Berdych came through a gruelling encounter with Fernando Verdasco, eventually winning 4-6 7-6 6-4 to advance to the semi-finals. Both players broke just twice in the match, but Berdych held his nerve to come through after nearly three hours on court. He will now play Robin Soderling whose excellent form continued with a 6-1 6-4 victrory over Mikhail Youzhny.

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