The fans and spectators were hoping for a clash of such high calibre for a really long time and it's finally happening folks, in Cincinnati at the 2010 Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open as current u.S. open champion Kim Clijsters takes on three time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova.

Let's take up Kim Clijsters' performance first in the tournament so far...! The Belgian opened her bid with a gruelling yet impressive encounter against former world number one Dinara Safina. Though far from her best, the Russian managed to intimidate Clijsters in the first few minutes of the match, but the current U.S. Open champion came out a winner in straight sets. Then came the rising American star Christina McHale, who could not even spend an hour on court, failing to stand the massive shotmaking of the Belgian player. Clijsters' toughest challenge came in the name of Italian Flavia Pennetta, who opened the match to soon build a formidable lead, but with Belgain's instant response, gave away the edge and the match in two closely fought sets. With a comfortable win over an injured Ana Ivanovic, Clijsters made the final. After her two title wins in Brisbane and Miami, this is Clijsters' chance to become a tour leader.

Her opponent, glamorous Maria Sharapova, on the other hand, is seeing a kind of resurgence that many fail to achieve. Performance wise, Sharapova was given an extremely challenging draw with her first match against recently crowned San Diego champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, whom she defeated in three sets to then fend off the challenge of German Andrea Petkovic rather handily. Straight sets victories over players like Agnieszka Radwanska and Marion Bartoli gave Sharapova, not only the ticket to the fnal but also the confidence that she is all set to take on the challenge of the mightiest of the players on circuit currently including the creme-de-la-creme that clearly boasts of Kim Clijsters, her last hurdle in Cincinnati.

Clijsters leads the head-to-head between both players 4-3. Interestingly, she is yet to score her first win in five years since her last victory came in 2005 and since then Sharapova has dominated with six consecutive sets. Sharapova has been victorious in Strasbourg and Memphis this year, which gives her an opportunity too, to become a tour leader with three titles. The Russian also reached the final in Birmingham and Stanford but finished runner up to Na Li and Victoria Azarenka respectively.

TennisEarth.com's Pick - Going by the current form and past record on hard court, we fiind it essential to pick the Belgian over the Russian star, in three tight sets ofcourse...!