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SYDNEY - World number one Justine Henin set up a dream final against second-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova after beating Ana Ivanovic at the Sydney International yesterday.
Henin booked her place in the final with a 6-2 2-6 6-4 win over the fourth-ranked Serb while Kuznetsova advanced after a tough 7-5 7-6 win over Czech Nicole Vaidisova.
Henin struggled with her serve in the humid conditions, conceding 11 double-faults and being broken three times but found her range when it mattered most to seal victory.
The Belgian's meeting with Kuznetsova is a repetition of last year's US Open final and she said it was the perfect preparation for next week's Australian Open.
"It's important to get this kind of match so close to the open, that's what I really need now," Henin told a news conference.
"It's a perfect preparation for me. The conditions were pretty tough. It's not as hot as it is in Melbourne but still it was quite difficult on the court and pretty windy."
Kuznetsova said she was approaching the match against Henin as though she had nothing to lose.
"She's going to go in the favourite and that's fine with me. I'm just going to go there and play my game," the Russian said.
While the women's final will feature the world's top two ranked players, the men's draw has suffered high-profile casualties.
The only seeded player to make it through to the quarter-finals was world number 14 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic but his campaign ended at the hands of Australian wildcard Chris Guccione.
The tall lefthander, ranked 125 in the world, followed up his win over Lleyton Hewitt the previous day by surviving a match point to beat Berdych 4-6 7-6 6-4.
He will play Berdych's compatriot Radek Stepanek in the semi-finals after Stepanek accounted for Argentina's Agustin Calleri 6-2 6-4.
Stepanek spent the off-season training at altitude in Mexico and said he felt like a new man when he returned to sea level.
"I noticed at the zero level I was able to breathe for three other people," he said. "It was like paradise. I was drunk from the air up there."
The second men's semi-final will be played between Frenchman Fabrice Santoro and Russia's Dmitry Tursunov.
Santoro beat Russian Evgeny Korolev 6-3 6-3 after Tursonov defeated Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-4 6-2.
- REUTERS
