France's Amelie Mauresmo advanced to her first grand slam final in seven years after newly-crowned world number one Kim Clijsters was forced to retire from their Australian Open semi-final injured.
Third seed Mauresmo was leading 5-7 6-2 3-2 when her Belgian opponent fell heavily and injured her right foot. Clijsters, who came into the tournament under an injury cloud, asked for a medical timeout and was treated on the side of the court but played just one more point before quitting.
"It's very strange. We had such a great battle till she twisted the ankle," Mauresmo said in a courtside interview. "It's a little bit of an unfinished match. I hope she gets better and it's not too bad but that's the way it is."
Mauresmo, 26, will play eighth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne in Saturday's final after the Belgian beat Russian fourth seed Maria Sharapova 4-6 6-1 6-4. The powerfully-built Frenchwoman was runner-up to Martina Hingis at Melbourne Park in 1999 but hadn't made a grand slam final since, despite herself briefly claiming the world number one spot in 2004.
"It's such a long time. I'm very happy to do it again," said Mauresmo. "Hopefully it'll go my way this time. It's been a long time and I have been waiting for this, I'm still very happy."
Clijsters lost the final to Henin-Hardenne two years ago and has been plagued by injuries ever since. She broke through to win her first major title at last year's US Open but almost missed the Australian Open after injuring her hip and back in a warm-up event in Sydney a fortnight ago.
The 22-year-old limped through the first four rounds without dropping a set, despite needing treatment during several matches and having her thigh heavily strapped, and seemed to be over the worst of it.
She recovered from a lapse in concentration to beat Martina Hingis in three sets in the quarter-finals, by doing so regaining the number one world ranking from Lindsay Davenport, and made a flying start in today's semi-final with Mauresmo.
Clijsters broke Mauresmo's serve in the third game and although she handed the break straight back, Mauresmo eventually cracked under the pressure and conceded the first set on a double-fault.
The first signs that all were not well with Clijsters began to appear in the second set, however. She started running slower and the ferocious groundstrokes she had been unleashing in the first set began to lose their impact.
Mauresmo took the set with two breaks, both off backhand errors from Clijsters, then opened up a 2-0 lead with an early break in the third. Clijsters pulled back to 2-2 but another sloppy game saw her drop serve again then tumble to the court.