Justine Henin-Hardenne and Amelie Mauresmo will contest the final of the Australian Open after they progressed from their semi-finals in contrasting fashion.
Mauresmo advanced to her first grand slam final in seven years after newly-crowned world number one Kim Clijsters was forced to retire injured.
Clijsters, who had sprained her left ankle in the second set, aggravated the problem in the third set and was forced to stop playing.
Mauresmo, who was leading 5-7 6-2 3-2 at that time, has reached her first final since 1999 when she finished runner-up to Martina Hingis.
The Belgian, who came into the tournament under an injury cloud, asked for a medical time-out and was treated at the court but played just one more point before quitting.
Meanwhile, Henin-Hardenne out-smarted and outwitted the big-hitting Maria Sharapova 4-6 6-1 6-4 to advance to her second Australian Open final.
The Belgian, who won in Melbourne in 2004 but missed last year through injury, ground fourth seed Sharapova down to extend an extraordinary winning streak in Australia to 20 matches, closing out their hard-fought semi-final after two hours and 26 minutes.
The French Open champion served for the match in the ninth game of the decider but stumbled slightly before recovering to break Sharapova in the next game and claim the match with a blistering backhand winner down the line.
