Clement in Australian Open Final

Friday, January 26th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) â€” Arnaud Clement fought off two match points in the third set and reached the Australian Open final with a 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-2 victory Friday over fellow Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean.

No. 15 seed Clement will face defending champion Andre Agassi in Sunday's championship match.

Relentless scrambling by the friends, who are doubles and practice partners, made points hard to finish off.

Clement had more energy left at the end of the 4-hour, 8-minute match â€” the longest of the tournament â€” and gained points by picking on Grosjean's faltering backhand.

He still needed five match points to wrap it up in a final game with six deuces. Clement reached the final match point with a forehand winner, and then Grosjean netted a forehand.

There was no expression of jubilation as the two put their arms around each other and walked off the court.

No Frenchman had reached an Australian Open final since Jean Borotra won in 1928, and none has won a Grand Slam tournament since Yannick Noah in 1983 in the French Open.

The 1983 French Open also was the only other time two Frenchmen reached the semifinals at the same Grand Slam event.

No. 16 Grosjean broke serve in the first game of each of the first three sets, and appeared set to win with his big serve and forehand.

He served 20 aces in all, and had 71 winners, compared to Clement's 40. He also won more points: 176-174.

He gained one match point with Clement serving at 3-5 in the third. Clement rebounded with two forehand winners, and Grosjean yielded the game with a backhand wide.

On his own serve at 5-4, Grosjean reached a second match point with a forehand down the line, but Clement slipped in for a volley winner. Grosjean lost what turned out to be his last chance with a pair of forehand errors.

The two still were playing spectacular points late in the fourth set. Down 15-40 on his own serve at 5-5, Grosjean chased down a lob and rifled a forehand past Clement at the net. He got back to deuce in a point which he hit four apparent winners before Clement finally couldn't reach one.

But Grosjean missed on the next two points, giving Clement the break he needed to wrap up the fourth set after 3 1/2 hours of play.

He then broke for 2-1 and 4-1 in the final set and served out the match.

Grosjean, the 5-foot-9 player with his white cap on backward, never before had gone past the fourth round of a Grand Slam. He beat No. 4 Magnus Norman and former No. 1 Carlos Moya on his way to the semifinals.

Clement is an inch shorter, wears a bandanna and sometimes wraparound sunglasses. He left off the glasses Friday because the match was played under a closed roof in intermittent rain.

Clement's best previous Grand Slam was last year's U.S. Open, where he reached the quarterfinals.

He beat Roger Federer, Greg Rusedki and 1999 champion and 2000 finalist Yevgeny Kafelnikov to reach the last four.

Clement and Grosjean each had dropped only one set in their five matches leading to the semifinals.

In the women's singles final, three-time champion Martina Hingis plays No. 12 Jennifer Capriati on Saturday.

Hingis beat both Williams sisters on her way to the final. Venus and Serena Williams came back Friday and completed a career Grand Slam in doubles.

They beat Lindsay Davenport and Corina Morariu 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, adding the Australian Open title to their 1999 French and U.S. Open and 2000 Wimbledon championships. They also won an Olympic gold medal, and Venus was the Olympic singles champion.