Clijsters can expect fans' backing

Bereft of local interest after Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis made untimely departures from the Australian Open on Australia Day, the Rod Laver Arena crowd will lend full support towards Kim Clijsters, their adopted tennis daughter, in the women’s final.

It is another all-Belgian affair, the third in four Grand Slams, between world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne and Hewitt’s fiancée, ‘Aussie Kim’.