Monday, July 31 2006 15:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Stanford: Top seed and defending champion Kim Clijsters steamed into the final of the US$600,000 WTA hardcourt tournament here Saturday with a straight-set win over Nicole Vaidisova. Clijsters downed the third-seeded Czech 7-5, 6-2 to give herself a chance to add to the three titles she has won at this event since 2001.

That number might have been even higher had she not missed the 2004 edition following wrist surgery.

"I always play well on hardcourts, although I've been playing a lot of matches on other surfaces as well," Clijsters said.

"For some reason I get here, I don't know what it is, I enjoy playing here," she said. Clijsters, the reigning US Open champion, was playing rising star Vaidisova for the first time.

"She has great movement, hits the ball deep into the court," Vaidisova said.

"There were a lot of positive things for me, I had set point and I was up 3-2 (in the first set)," she said.

In Sunday's final Clijsters will face second-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland. Schnyder defeated unseeded Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.

Golovin had ensured that all four top seeds would not advance to the penultimate round with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) upset of fourth-seeded Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany on Friday.

But Golovin couldn't pull off the upset against the world number eight Swiss, despite battling back from 1-4 down in the first set to force the tiebreaker.

Schnyder, playing in her first final of the year, knew she would have her work cut out for her.

"She's the defending champion, the defending US Open champion," Schnyder said of Clijsters.

"She's just on on hardcourt. I'll just try to play a good match," she said.