Henin-Hardenne sets up Clijsters semi-final showdown

PARIS, June 6 (Reuters) Champion Justine Henin-Hardenne withstood a fierce onslaught before beating Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-5 6-2 to reach the French Open semi-finals today.

Henin-Hardenne recovered from a tentative start to set up an all-Belgian battle against second seed Kim Clijsters.

Aiming for her third title in four years, the fifth seed trailed 2-0 before finding her feet on a sun-bathed Suzanne Lenglen court.

Having clawed her way back into a 4-3 lead, Henin-Hardenne was again broken in the eighth game by the German 13th seed, who was playing her first grand slam quarter-final.

That was as good as it got for Groenefeld who surrendered the set by whacking a wild forehand wide.

Henin-Hardenne pinched six games in succession to move 3-0 ahead in the second set. Groenefeld briefly stopped the run but bowed out after 85 minutes, Henin-Hardenne slapping a forehand winner down the line on her second match point.

REUTERS DH BST2009