Tennis: Final promises to be a classic

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Today's international final will be a classic battle between the world No 26 and an unseeded 18-year-old.

On one side of the net for the ASB Classic singles final will be the third seed and defending champion Eleni Daniilidou, of Greece; on the other the American 52nd-ranked Ashley Harkleroad.

It will be the first time the pair have met, and for Harkleroad, her first WTA final.

She pulled off a minor surprise with yesterday's come-from-nowhere fightback to beat France's Marion Bartoli 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Bartoli, ranked six places lower than Harkleroad but regarded as one of the tour's real comers, lost out in the rain-interrupted two-hour battle.

In another drawn-out affair, Daniilidou beat Argentine top seed Paolo Suarez 7-6 (15-13), 6-4 to win through to her sixth final.

Down 0-5 before the faithful had settled, Harkleroad was staring at a fast plane out. Tentative, sluggish and struggling to find her game, she searched for a way back.

"I said to myself, 'I have to win a game and get back into this'," she said later. "I did that and even though I didn't win the set, I felt I at least had some momentum."

That, and a 70-minute rain delay, was enough to turn it around.

"The rain delay helped me. She was on a roll," said Harkleroad, who is playing here for the second time.

Back on court and with Bartoli's father and coach on a warning from umpire Blaze Trifunovski for coaching, Harkleroad turned the screws.

Her backhand became more effective and despite still struggling on serve - she was twice taken to deuce - she held crucial games to take 2-1 then 4-1 leads.

Asked about shaking the monkey of having never won a WTA title off her back, Harkleroad said simply: "I don't really have one. I just play tennis and try to do my best."

Which, yesterday, was pretty darn good.

Bartoli, who had dropped only nine games (and no sets) en route to the semis, admitted she had been hampered by a troublesome elbow injury, but blamed her loss more on the sometimes difficult windy conditions.

"I was not able to serve in the third set," 19-year-old Bartoli said. "I I will take two or three days off, get some treatment and hope I'll be ready for the Australian Open.

"I knew she could come back. It was a tough match in the conditions for the first week of the year."

The weather was better for the second semifinal, but Suarez probably wished there was something to slow Daniilidou in a match between two players who had not dropped a set in their first three matches.

It was decided, as much as anything, on the unforced error count.

By the second game of the second set, Suarez had managed 32. Daniilidou was not far behind.

Holding serve for both players was a challenge. Of the 22 games in the 97-minute match, serve was held in just nine. Suarez was broken seven times, Daniilidou six. Suarez served 10 double faults, Daniilidou eight.

The first set tiebreaker - won 15-13 by Daniilidou and equalling the fifth longest tiebreaker in history - was more of the same with set points blown by both players.

"We were really nervous," Daniilidou said. "In the tiebreaker I was lucky. For a few of the set points, I didn't move at all.

"I was torn between going for it and trying to save energy. I knew Ashley would be aggressive.

"I like how she is playing. You can't be in a final without playing very well."