Clijsters stunned by Dokic

Swisscom Challenge, Zurich

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Jelena Dokic provided one of the upsets of the season by beating world number one Kim Clijsters 1-6 6-3 6-4 to reach the final.

Clijsters had been expected to set up a repeat of last week's Filderstadt final against Justine Henin-Hardenne, who earlier saw off Nadia Petrova.

However, despite taking the first set at a canter, Clijsters could not contend with a fast-improving Dokic.

Clijsters will lose the number one spot if Henin-Hardenne wins the title.

Clijsters, who was also entered in the doubles tournament in Zurich, blamed too much tennis for her loss.

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

"Right now, I'm mentally and physically very tired. I don't think I recovered very well after that late doubles match last night and this was one match too many," she said.

"In the first set I played well but I had nothing left after that."

Dokic, who has fallen from fourth to 25th in the rankings this season, has been enjoying a return to form in Zurich where she has also ousted fifth seed Chanda Rubin and defending champion Patty Schynder.

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

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

The win against Clijsters marked the first time Dokic had won four consecutive matches this season.

Clijsters dominated the opening set, sweeping through the first three games in six minutes before breaking the increasingly frustrated Dokic again at 4-1.

But the Serbia-Montenegro player rallied in the second.

She troubled Clijsters with her sizzling forehand and recorded the only break of the set to go up 3-1 when Clijsters surprisingly double-faulted on the first of two break points.

Dokic held her nerve to successfully hold on to her advantage and broke again to take a 3-2 lead in the decider.

The Belgian threatened her opponent's serve only once after that and went long on the first match point to concede defeat.

Henin-Hardenne struggled with fatigue and injury but advanced

Henin-Hardenne reached her second final in two weeks with a hard-fought 6-4 6-4 win over Petrova.

The world number two has withdrawn from next week's event in Austria because of fatigue and against Petrova, she was also troubled by inflamed tendons in her right knee.

"For a few days I have felt pain in my knee cap and I have some blisters on my foot as well," she said.

"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."

Henin-Hardenne was far from her best against Petrova but the Russian was too careless to take advantage.

Both sets featured five breaks of serve as neither player was able to take control, but Henin-Hardenne reserved her best tennis for the crucial moments.