Tennis:Belgium's Kim Clijsters saved a match point before beating Serbia's Jelena Jankovic 4-6 7-6 6-4 on Friday to win the Sydney International for the second time in four years.
Clijsters survived the match point at 4-5 in the second set as Jankovic twice failed to serve out the match. The Belgian clinched victory in the deciding third set after two-and-a-half hours.
Clijsters, one of the favourites for the Australian Open beginning next week, won the Sydney title in 2003 and is unbeaten in 2007 after starting her farewell year on the professional tour by winning an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong.
"It's been an incredible night for me, that was great," Clijsters said at the presentation.
"Jelena's improved so much and I think she's a great player and has a great future ahead of her."
Jankovic had won nine matches in a row before her loss to Clijsters after capturing last week's Auckland Classic and winning her first four matches in Sydney to emerge as a contender for the first grand slam of the year.
Jankovic (21), looked to be cruising to victory when she broke Clijsters' serve three times to take the opening set after 42 minutes then grabbed an early break in the second.
She failed to serve out the match at her first attempt when Clijsters saved a match point with a deep forehand winner but got a second chance when she broke the Belgian in the next game.
A sloppy service game allowed the 23-year-old Clijsters to force the tie-break which she won, helped in part by three double faults from the Serbian, to regain the momentum.
Clijsters raced to a 4-0 lead in the third set and although a momentary lapse in concentration allowed Jankovic to pull back one of the breaks she held her last two service games to wrap up her 34th WTA career title.
"What can I say? Kim played unbelievable tonight. She's just a great champion," Jankovic said.