Henin-Hardenne beats Clijsters to reach Eastbourne final

EASTBOURNE, England, June 23 (Reuters) Justine Henin-Hardenne maintained her recent dominance over Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters with a 6-3 5-7 6-1 win today to reach the Eastbourne International final.

The French Open champion will meet the winner of the all-Russian duel between Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anastasia Myskina in tomorrow's final.

Despite the one-sided score in the third set, third seed Henin-Hardenne was pushed all the way by the defending champion.

Henin-Hardenne, who also beat her Fed Cup team mate at the same stage of the French Open earlier this month en route to the title, claimed 10 of the last 11 points and closed out the match with her 10th ace.

Both players competed superbly throughout, indicating they will be strong contenders at Wimbledon which begins on Monday.

Henin-Hardenne's backhand was on form and she backed it up with her lethal forehand and fine serving.

Clijsters was perhaps less spectacular, but she also produced her share of winners, both crosscourt and down the line.

Henin-Hardenne took advantage of a sluggish start by her opponent and broke to lead 1-0 but then had to save break points when leading 2-1 and 4-3 before closing out the set with another break, her strong return forcing a backhand error.

Clijsters double-faulted to give Henin-Hardenne a 2-0 lead in the second set, but Henin-Hardenne then double-faulted to drop the next game.

Second seeded Clijsters continued to apply pressure.

She held two break points at 2-2 before breaking to lead 5-4 with a crosscourt winner that landed on the line and drew an angry but brief protest from Henin-Hardenne.

Clijsters, however, failed to serve out the set but broke again to lead 6-5 and made no mistake with her second opportunity of levelling the match.

Clijsters also broke to lead 1-0 in the final set but failed to convert either of two points for 2-0, and in a seven-deuce game eventually made a forehand error to give Henin-Hardenne a break on her sixth break point.

Henin-Hardenne grabbed a 3-1 advantage, saved two break points in the fifth game before wrapping up victory.

Reuters DH VV1949