Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters both won in straight sets Thursday, setting up an all-Belgian final at the Australian Open.

Belgium's Kim Clijsters raises her arms in celebration after her semifinal win against Switzerland's Patty Schnyder at the Australian Open in Melbourne Australia, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004. Clijsters won in straight sets 6-2, 7-6. [AP]

Both reached the semifinals at all four majors last season, with Henin-Hardenne beating Clijsters at the French and U.S. Opens. Neither had previously made the Australian Open final.

The top-ranked Henin-Hardenne advanced to her fourth Grand Slam championship match with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Fabiola Zuluaga, who was seeded 32nd.

Clijsters passed a morning fitness test on her injured left ankle, then beat No. 22 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-2, 7-6 (2). She hasn't won a Grand Slam title in three finals.

Zuluaga and Schnyder were in their first Grand Slam semifinals.

Clijsters hurt her ankle at the Hopman Cup and was sidelined for two weeks before the Australian Open. She aggravated the injury in a quarterfinal victory over sixth-seeded Anastasia Myskina on Wednesday, but said it was tightly taped for the Schnyder match and didn't bother her.

"I can't make it any worse, so I'll just keep giving it a shot," she said. "Maybe third time lucky," against Henin-Hardenne.

Despite concern over her foot, Clijsters still lunged at full stretch, doing the splits to send up defensive lobs at the baseline. She chased down Schnyder's drop shots and replied with winners.

Both semifinals were played under a closed roof at Rod Laver Arena as light rain continued throughout the day.

Henin-Hardenne made 25 unforced errors, including 15 in the second set, but said she played well on the big points against Zuluaga.

"It was a good fight, long rallies, I played well on the important points and served well when I had to," she said. "I'm feeling good — I have won all my matches in two sets. I have a lot of motivation, and it's great to be in the final."

Henin-Hardenne said coming into a major ranked No. 1 was hard to handle in the first week.

"It's been a difficult tournament for me. It was new and being the top seed," she said. "But the situation changed in the quarterfinals and I feel better and better.

"Now I have to improve my level again if I want to win the title."

Clijsters lost only four points on her own serve in the first set. She won five consecutive games after the fifth to win the first set in 22 minutes and take a 1-0 lead in the second.

Schnyder held before trading breaks with Clijsters and holding a 5-3 lead. Clijsters won the next three games and Schnyder held to force a tiebreaker.

Clijsters dominated the tiebreaker, taking 5-1 lead and then getting four match points when Schnyder's forehand dropped wide. She produced a forehand winner on the next point to close in 74 minutes.

Wimbledon champion Roger Federer beat eighth-seeded David Nalbandian 7-5, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 and French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero eliminated Hicham Arazi 6-1, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) in quarterfinals Wednesday, setting up a semifinal with the No. 1-ranking at stake.

The winner will advance to a final against the winner of the semifinal between defending champion Andre Agassi and Marat Safin later Thursday.

Zuluaga, the first Colombian to advance so far at a Grand Slam, got bad line calls on game points in her first two service games and lost both of them as Henin-Hardenne took a 3-0 lead.

Henin-Hardenne dropped serve in the fourth game and then Zuluaga held before the top-seeded Belgian won three consecutive games to close the first set in 36 minutes.

Zuluaga is "a great player and I had to play great tennis if I wanted to get through," said Henin-Hardenne. "I had a great start, but it was more difficult in the second set. I will be in good shape on Saturday."

Ferrero, seeded third, was supplanted atop the ATP Tour rankings by U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick late last season. But Roddick will drop after losing to Safin in the quarterfinals in Australia.

Ferrero needs to beat Federer and then either Agassi or Safin in the final to return to No. 1. Federer will get there for the first time if he beats Ferrero.

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