Kim Clijsters admitted she was impressed with Justine Henin’s form in her first match back.

Clijsters is well aware that the two long-time rivals could meet for the 23rd time in Saturday’s final and she’s excited at the thought.

“[Playing Ana] Ivanovic, [Maria] Sharapova, Venus, Serena [Williams] – they are the big matches and obviously Justine now as well,” Clijsters said. “Even in a tournament like here, if you get through to the semis or final [playing Henin] – those are the matches that you want to do it for.”

“This is why we love to play tennis, for those big matches. Hopefully we get ourselves into that position whether it be here or Melbourne –[this month's Australian Open].”

Clijsters watched Henin’s first round win over Nadia Petrova on TV on Monday but she said it’s hard to assess how well someone is playing until you actually face them in person.

“On TV it is hard to tell, once you stand in front of her I think you get a better feel,” Clijsters said. “But she was very impressive I thought. She didn’t look like she had left.”

Clijsters and Henin have already faced each other 22 times, several times in grand slam finals. Henin leads 12-10 and she has won most of their big matches, including in the Australian Open and US Open finals.