BRISBANE; Belgium’s Kim Clijsters beat fellow countrywoman Justine Henin 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (8/6) to win in the final of the Brisbane International tennis tournament today.

The two great rivals battled it out for two hours, 23 minutes before Clijsters eventually claimed victory on her fourth championship point. Henin’s hopes of winning her first title since making a comeback to the sport ended with the loss, but she showed enough to suggest she will be a major force at the Australian Open.

Clijsters, who made her own comeback midway through last year, played some brilliant tennis in the first one and a half sets and appeared headed for an easy win. But she stumbled badly when trying to close out the match at 4-1, and Henin seized on her opponent’s nerves, attacking relentlessly and winning five straight games to put the match back on even terms.

Clijsters had appeared the more vulnerable throughout the third set, but quickly opened up a 4-0 lead in the tiebreak, taking it to 5-1 with a second serve ace. She brought up three championship points at 6-4, but Henin fought back again to make it 6-6. However, Henin then served a double fault and this time Clijsters made no mistake, taking her 36th title.

On the men’s side, Andy Roddick will play defending champion Radek Stepanek in the final. Stepanek defeated Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-1 while top-seed Roddick came from a set down to beat Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.