Justine Henin-Hardenne is one victory away from a career grand slam.
Henin-Hardenne defeated fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Thursday to reach the Wimbledon final and close in on the one major title missing from her collection.
The third-seeded Henin-Hardenne will face Amelie Mauresmo, who beat Maria Sharapova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, in the final on Saturday.
Henin-Hardenne reached the final here in 2001, losing to Venus Williams. Since then, she has won three French Opens and one United States Open and Australian Open. By taking Wimbledon, she would become only the 10th woman to win all four grand slams.
Thursday’s match was the 20th career tour-level meeting between the players and seventh at a grand slam, but their first at Wimbledon.
Henin-Hardenne evened the series at 10-10, winning for the third time in a month after victories in the French Open quarters and the Eastbourne grass-court event.
She has now won 17 straight matches, including 13 consecutive grand-slam matches, without dropping a set. She can become the first player in the Open era to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back without losing a set.
”I’m playing good tennis, I’m aggressive,” Henin-Hardenne said. ”I try to play calm. I hope I can go to the end.”
Henin-Hardenne beat Clijsters for the fourth straight time at a grand-slam tournament in a match that swung in momentum during both sets. She raised her game when she needed it and played a more varied, all-court game than Clijsters did, taking 17 of 21 points at the net.
”It was tough, the nerves today,” Henin-Hardenne said. ”I played very well on the important points. She broke me but I could always come back.”
After being broken to go down 4-3 in the first set, Henin-Hardenne ran off 12 of the next 16 points and three straight games to take the set. She continued a stretch of 11 straight points and 14 out of 15 to go up 1-0 and 15-40 on Clijsters’s serve, but Clijsters bore down and won three consecutive games for a 3-1 lead.
After another exchange of breaks, Clijsters served for the set at 6-5 but couldn’t convert. Henin-Hardenne had three winners and Clijsters blew a short forehand on break point.
Henin-Hardenne took the lead at 3-2 in the tiebreaker and went on to close the 90-minute match with a cross-court passing shot off her one-handed backhand.
”I love this kind of situation, ” Henin-Hardenne said, referring to the tiebreaker. ”I have the feeling that is why I am playing tennis. There is a lot of pressure in these moments.”
The two Belgians, whose relationship has often been frosty, shook hands at the net. But they did not embrace or kiss on the cheeks as is common in women’s tennis. — Sapa-AP