Clijsters was the victim of an overrule from the chair umpire while facing break point at 4-3 down in the final set. Television replays showed her volley had clipped the baseline.

"I'm not going to blame the umpire or anything because everybody makes mistakes," said Clijsters, biting her tongue.

"I'm not the type of player to start complaining after matches. I don't want to start any trouble. A few people have told me that it was in, so that's even more disappointing."

In a rare show of temper, Clijsters yelled, "No way!" following umpire Sandra De Jenken's intervention on that crucial point.

After the match, Clijsters agreed that a second umpire would help avoid confusion over line calls.

"You know, that's what they do in cricket. I'm not going to say that because it happened to me today that all of a sudden I want to have it. But maybe, yeah, in the future," she said.

Clijsters added: "You feel things when they come off the racket. I definitely had the feeling it was good but there's nothing I can do about it now."

The Belgian insisted she did not have a psychological problem after losing the fourth Grand Slam final of her career.

She suffered her third straight loss to Henin-Hardenne following defeats last year in the French and US Open finals.

The latest defeat will re-open the debate about Clijsters' big-match temperament, which has now come up short in seven out of nine finals against Henin-Hardenne.

There was more evidence of Clijsters' mental fragility on Saturday when she double-faulted twice when holding two game points that would have seen her level 4-4 in the decisive final set.

"Justine makes you go for so many shots that are not natural. You try to go closer to the lines and then you miss a few. She made me go a little bit out of my comfort zone."

Clijsters was satisfied to reach her first Melbourne final as she was troubled by an ankle injury throughout her campaign.

"My foot is not 100 per cent, so in a way I'm very lucky to have been out there. I could have been home for two weeks in Belgium... watching matches on TV," said the 20-year-old, who sprained her left ankle at the Hopman Cup earlier this month.