Dokic wins battle of teenagers

TOKYO, SEPT. 22. Jelena Dokic unleashed an array of powerful strokes to beat top seed and fellow 18-year-old Kim Clijsters 7- 5, 6-4 on Saturday to secure a berth in the final of the Princess Cup tennis tournament.

The third seed from Yugoslavia, also the finalist in the Brazilian Open a week ago, overcame a lacklustre start to score a victory over the French Open finalist from Belgium.

Dokic will face 1994 champion Arantxa Sanchez- Vicario in Sunday's final, after the Spanish fifth seed overcame compatriot Gala Leon Garcia 6-3, 7-5 in a classic baseline encounter.

``To beat the world number five is great for me,'' said Dokic after the 70-minute battle of the teenagers. ``My whole year has been really consistent. I've been playing very well the last few weeks and the last couple of months. I think generally this year I've played very well, I've worked very hard.

``It's still coming together now and this year has been the best season so far,'' added Dokic, who posted her first career title at the Italian Open.

Neither Dokic nor Clijsters was able to hold her serve until the ninth game when the Belgian kept it to lead 5-4 in the first set.

But Dokic, ranking a career high of 11, won the next seven games in a row to chalk up a 4-0 lead in the second set. Clijsters fought back to trail 4-5, having broken back in the eighth game thanks to Dokic's only double fault at 0-40.

But Dokic stayed calm and unleashed an array of big strokes to race to a 40-0 lead in the 10th game. Although she missed her first match point, she launched a powerful serve which Clijsters hit into the net.

``I broke straight away in the first game and I think it was very crucial to hold my game,'' Dokic said of the early lead in the second set.

``She gave me a few errors and I just kept being aggressive. That's why everything turned round even more. It was very important for me to get a big lead, because I lost a little bit in the second set. I think I just started my game and that was the main thing,'' added Dokic.

Clijsters said: ``she is playing with a lot of confidence, this is her second final in a row, so she is obviously playing very well.

``There wasn't a specific turning point in my opinion. I've been serving better in previous matches. The rallies we had were very good, but my serve was the problem today.''

Sanchez-Vicario, who had lost her only previous match against Leon Garcia two years ago, dictated the tempo in a battle of claycourt specialists.

The four time Grand Slam champion was never seriously troubled by the unseeded Leon Garcia, who committed a string of unforced errors to assist Sanchez-Vicario to only her second straight sets victory of the week.

Sanchez-Vicario, who is 11 years older than Dokic, holds a 3-2 record against the Yugoslav but has lost their last two matches, most recently a 4-6, 5-7 defeat at last month's U.S. Open.

The results: Jelena Dokic bt Kim Clijsters 7-5, 6-4; Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario bt Gala Leon Garcia 6-3, 7-5.

- AFP, Reuters

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