Clijsters falls to Dokic

More than the Swiss crown will be on the line on Sunday. If second seed Henin-Hardenne beats Dokic she will replace compatriot Clijsters at the top of the world rankings.

Dokic, who had not won consecutive matches for three months coming into the Zurich tournament, was forced to battle back from a set down in the semi-final but withstood the pressure to win 1-6 6-3 6-4 in 79 minutes.

"I am very happy. I didn't expect this at all," she smiled. "I was just hoping to get to the semi-finals. I went into the game positive and, you know, if I won I won... if not it doesn't matter.

"I didn't start so well, I was a little bit slow and I didn't serve that well and the first set was over within 15 minutes. Then I started to play a bit.

"It's not every day you get to serve against the world number one so I just went for it."

Clijsters had beaten Dokic in all of their last four meetings and she started the stronger when she broke serve after a comfortable opener and took the score to 3-0 in just six minutes.

Dokic chalked up a game but Clijsters, in a different class early on, broke to love in the sixth she won another love game with a backhand drive down the line, an un-hittable serve, a forehand crosscourt and an ace to complete the set.

The Yugoslav hit back with a break in the fourth game of the second when Clijsters double faulted. The Belgian got back in her stride with a couple of love games but Dokic served out the set with one of her own.

The crucial third set break point fell to Dokic in the fifth game when Clijsters hit into the net but Dokic had to save a break point with an ace in the eighth game to stay on course for victory.

Dokic was back on form, playing more of what she had earlier described as her "best tennis in 18 months", and she raised her hands in the air in delight after Clijsters hit long to hand her the match.

"Even if I lost I wanted to go off court knowing I had given it everything," she said.

"I haven't had a great time but now I feel I have got my head together and got my tennis together."

In the earlier semi-final, Henin-Hardenne battled past Nadia Petrova 6-4 6-4 to reach her 11th final of the year and stretch her unbeaten run over the towering Russian to five matches.

The second seed and world number two, who was nursing a knee injury and admitted she was running on empty after playing her 80th match of the season to reach the semis, was broken four times in the match but used all her gritty qualities to dig out victory.

"For a few days I have felt pain in my knee cap and I have some blisters on my foot as well," Henin-Hardenne complained.

"It is okay, I can play, but it is bothering me sometimes and it is tough but I just tried to do my job today.

"It wasn't a great match of tennis for sure but I played well on a few important points and that was the most important thing for me. There wasn't a lot of rhythm but I did what I had to, I won the two sets so, just enough."