Australian Open 2012: Kim Clijsters Will Return to Finals

The road for Kim Clijsters is now clear.

A win over Victoria Azarenka, and Clijsters will be right back in the final of the Australian Open. She will take that road and be in position to regain her throne. 

Azarenka has never made a it beyond the semifinals at a Grand Slam. Before getting hurt last season, Clijsters won the Australian Open, which followed up a win in the 2010 U.S. Open. The only advantage that a person like Azarenka would have over an experienced champion like Clijsters would be court rust. 

But if Clijsters was experiencing court rust, she wouldn't be this far along. A rusty Clijsters would have done no better than a loss to Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals, if that. 

Now that Clijsters is in the semifinals, she will get through to the finals and will do so in straight sets. 

Because Clijsters is seeded low (No. 11), she has had to endure tough opposition along the way. The fact that she's still standing shows that Clijsters has done just fine. But it goes beyond the win-loss record, take a look at how Clijsters has done against the better opponents she's faced. 

Opponent	Result
No. 20 Daniela Hantuchova	6-3, 6-2
No. 5 Li Na	4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki	6-3, 7-6 (7-4)

The performance against Na would have me concerned, but it was followed by the straight set demolition of Wozniacki.

Azarenka and Woz are too similar to each other. Both are consistently good players but don't quite have the makeup to play championship tennis in Grand Slams. If they do have that makeup, they haven't shown it yet. 

Clijsters has shown that. She has a tremendous edge over Azarenka in the semifinals because of that. Clijsters knows how to win at this level and is clearly on form.

Azarenka is on form but hasn't bolted through that door and into a Grand Slam final yet either. 

The Australian Open will not be the time for Azarenka to do that. Clijsters has regained the form that she had before getting hurt last year. With at worst a return trip to the final in Australia, the results will prove that she's back. 

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