Henin-Hardenne wins battle of Belgians

Justine Henin-Hardenne twice came from behind to win the battle of the Belgians and stay on course for a first Wimbledon triumph.

The 2001 runner-up beat second seed Kim Clijsters 6-4 7-6 in the first semi-final on Centre Court to keep alive her hopes of completing the full set of Grand Slam titles.

Clijsters produced some blistering groundstrokes to break her compatriot three times but could not match the consistency of her opponent, who twice reeled off three consecutive games.

“It was tough but I played well in the important points,” Henin--Hardenne told the BBC.

“It was always going to be tough against a player like Kim but I did well.”

Clijsters, who was a break up in the first set, led 3-1 and 6-5 in the second but dropped her serve for a fourth time and was squeezed out 7-4 in the all-important tie-break which brought the best out of the French Open champion.

“There was a lot of tension and a lot of pressure,” added Henin-Hardenne. “I love to be in this situation.”

Clijsters, the reigning US Open champion, was hoping to even up the honours, having lost 11 of their previous 21 clashes, and she shaded the baseline rallies to draw first blood, breaking her opponent in the seventh game.

But Henin-Hardenne struck back immediately, taking advantage of rare hesitancy by her compatriot, who then produced the worst possible moment to come up with a first double fault as she was broken to love in the 10th game.

Henin-Hardenne wrapped up the first set 6-4 in 37 minutes and Clijsters, who has never been beyond the semi-finals, survived another alarm when clawing her way back from 15-40 on her own serve in the second game of the second set.

And that promoted a significant momentum shift, with Henin-Hardenne dropping her serve for the second time after coming up with a fourth double fault.

Clijsters found her range and accuracy to consolidate the break but, just as suddenly, lost her touch to allow the French Open champion to level at 3-3.

Fortunes swung wildly once more, with neither player able to stamp her authority on the match.

Henin-Hardenne fell behind after being broken to love but showed a deft touch with a lovely drop shot and drew level when her opponent put an easy forehand wide.

The tie-break went with the serve until Clijsters came up with the first error at the halfway point.

Although Henin-Hardenne missed what could have been a crucial smash, she benefited from a desperately close line call to win the tie-break with a crashing volley.