TENNIS: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 repeat of last year's US Open final and she said it was the perfect preparation for next week's Australian Open.
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 left-hander, 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.
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.
Meanwhile the former world number one Andy Roddick beat Marat Safin 6-3 6-3 to reach the final of the Kooyong Classic yesterday and said a shortened off-season could work in his favour at the Australian Open.
Roddick, the winner at Kooyong in 2006 and 2007, will face either Chilean Fernando Gonzalez or Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in tomorrow's final.
Having helped the United States to victory in the Davis Cup just over a month ago, Roddick has had less time than most players to recover and prepare for the new season.
However, the 25-year-old looked in good form against Safin and said he felt ready for a crack at the Australian Open title. "I feel pretty good physically," Roddick said.
"Maybe the short off-season was beneficial to me because I didn't take too much time off."
Britain's Andy Murray, who was beaten by Safin on day one, came back from a set and 3-0 down to beat Croat Ivan Ljubicic 6-7 6-4 6-2.
Murray will play Australian Brydan Klein, who replaced Argentine David Nalbandian after he pulled out with back spasms, in the play-off for fifth place.
World number four Nikolay Davydenko of Russia also withdrew from the eight-man exhibition event yesterday, citing fatigue.
World number one Roger Federer, who withdrew on the eve of the event because of a stomach virus, could yet play one match tomorrow, organisers said.
In Wellington the former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero outlasted Chile's Nicolas Massu in an epic baseline battle yesterday to advance to the semi-finals of the Auckland Open.
The 2003 French Open champion took almost two and a half hours to dispatch the double Olympic champion 4-6 6-3 6-4. "I don't think that I played my best tennis today," Ferrero said. "The wind was a little bit more difficult today but mentally I was very consistent all the match and I think it was one of the keys to winning.
"I played good tennis but I should have made more winners with my forehand and been a little bit more aggressive."
The 27-year-old Spaniard will now meet France's Julien Benneteau in the semi-finals after he upset champion and top seed David Ferrer of Spain 6-4 6-0.
German seventh seed Philipp Kohlschreiber was the first player through to the semi-finals with a 6-3 6-4 victory over compatriot Florian Mayer.
The 24-year old will now meet third seed Juan Monaco after the Argentine beat France's Michel Llodra 4-6 7-6 7-6.
