Former world number one Kim Clijsters put friendship aside to beat defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 on Friday to reach the final of the Eastbourne WTA tournament.
The two women are good friends and regular practice partners off court. On the grass at Devonshire Park, however, each did her best to pound the other into submission.
Seventh seed Clijsters, who missed most of last year with a wrist injury and has dropped to 17th in the world, will play Russian qualifier Vera Douchevina in Saturday's final.
Douchevina, who knocked out top-seeded Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo in the second round, beat fellow qualifier Roberta Vinci of Italy 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 in the second semi-final.
Clijsters came back strongly from her injury, winning back-to-back tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami in March and April.
A knee injury derailed her claycourt season in Berlin and she said this week she was relieved to be playing on grass again for the first time in two years.
At Wimbledon next week, the Belgian will be seeded only 15th and could be a dangerous presence in the top half of the draw.
BRILLIANT SUNSHINE
In Friday's semi-final, played in brilliant sunshine after a damp, chilly first few days of the tournament, Clijsters broke U.S. Open champion Kuznetsova in the first game of the deciding set.
She saved three breakpoints on her own serve in the following game and was swiftly 4-2 ahead as the Russian second seed began hitting unforced errors, something she later blamed on a lack of concentration.
The 19-year-old Kuznetsova saved one matchpoint with a winning service return but Clijsters beat her at the net on the second to close the match in one hour 43 minutes.
"It is good to play these kind of matches, especially before a grand slam," Clijsters told reporters. "I feel like my game is improving with every match."
Vinci endured a busy day, first finishing off a 6-4, 7-6 victory over fourth-seeded Russian Anastasia Myskina in a quarter-final which could not be completed on Thursday because of rain.
The Italian, who knocked out another Russian, fifth seed Vera Zvonareva, in the second round, served for the semi-final against Douchevina at 5-4 in the second set.
The 18-year-old Douchevina broke her and took the set to a tiebreak. Though Vinci saved four setpoints from 6-2 down, she missed an easy backhand volley to give the Russian the set.
Vinci began to look tired in the third set, with her trademark backhand slice frequently letting her down. She was unable to convert two breakpoints in the eighth game and tamely surrendered the match with a backhand mistake in the next.
