Justine Henin-Hardenne will have a chance to repeat. The defending French Open champion advanced to her third final at Roland Garros- easily defeating Kim Clijsters 6-3, 6-2 Thursday at Court Chatrier. It was her 13th consecutive win in Paris.
The fifth seeded Henin-Hardenne will be aiming for her third title in Paris the past four years. She won her first in '03 over Clijsters and her second against Mary Pierce last year.
With a much anticipated all-Belgian semifinal battle expected, it never materialized thanks to Henin-Hardenne who was sharp in spoiling the second seeded Clijsters' 23rd birthday.
"It was solid tennis, consistent," Henin-Hardenne expressed to reporters. "I had breakpoints against me and I served very well on these points and I've was very aggressive on these points."
"It's always, for me, very special to play well here in Paris. It's the place where I want to play my best tennis and where I want to win."
At the outset, Clijsters had a couple of opportunities to break Henin-Hardenne but couldn't cash in. With each player holding serve the first seven games, not much separated them. That's when the two-time winner made her move.
With Clijsters looking to square the set, the opportunistic Henin-Hardenne finally got an opening for a momentum-shifting break. After fighting off the only three break chances on her serve in the match earlier on, the four-time Grand Slam winner quickly pounced on Clijsters, forcing her into a forehand error for the crucial break.
"I wasn't that aggressive at the beginning, but she started to do some mistakes and I felt that I had to let her play a little bit because she started to do a lot of mistakes," Henin-Hardenne added. "I was smart enough to say, 'Okay, let's put the ball in the court, in a good way.'"
Leading 5-3, Henin-Hardenne served out the set without a problem- punctuating it with two straight aces.
"I felt like she started to take a lot more risks on her return games and she started to really put me under pressure from the first serve already. She tried to go for her shots. I think from then on, she raised her level a bit, and from then on she was too good," a disappointed Clijsters pointed out.
After each player held for one all to start the second set, Clijsters ran into more trouble against Henin-Hardenne in the third game. In what turned out to be the longest game of the match, she saved four break points before succumbing on the fifth chance when she double faulted.
With Henin-Hardenne serving well, it was the beginning of the end. With the '04 winner in control up 4-2, she earned her third break of the match when a Clijsters backhand sailed wide.
In the victory, Henin-Hardenne converted 3-of-8 break points while fighting off all three Clijsters had.
She easily served out the match, concluding it with a service winner before being congratulated by Clijsters.
"She's by far the best clay court player," Clijsters said. "She's really consistent. The difference between her and, I think any other player, is that she just moves so well."
Henin-Hardenne will go for her third French Open title against Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who fought back from a set and 3-5 down to post a thrilling 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over Nicole Vaidisova to advance to her first final at Roland Garros.
In an exciting match which saw extreme momentum swings, the 20-year-old eighth seeded Russian's experience was too much for the 17-year-old Vaidisova to overcome.
Making her slam semifinal debut, the talented 16th seed was brilliant against the '04 U.S. Open winner, finishing with 54 winners. That was more than double Kuznetsova's 26 but wasn't good enough to push Vaidisova through to her first ever Grand Slam final.
With each player showing nerves of steel to hold during the first seven games of the opening set, Kuznetsova finally broke Vaidisova when the 17-year-old sent a forehand wide. But with a chance to close out the set, the Russian tensed up and allowed the Czech to break right back, donating a forehand into the net.
Given new life, Vaidisova took the next three games to run off four straight to grab the unpredictable 56-minute set.
"At the start, I was solid but suddenly I wanted to win points too fast," Kuznetsova told reporters after the big win.
Using a big serve and powerful forehand which produced many winners, Vaidisova rode the momentum to take the first two games of the second set. With a struggling Kuznetsova teetering on the edge of disaster, Vaidisova nearly had her second break. But the more experienced Russian thwarted a couple of break chances and held to stay within reach.
With Kuznetsova finally holding, it became a battle of wills to see if Vaidisova could close her out. After Kuznetsova held for 4-5, Vaidisova served for the match.
Finally tightening up, she missed a few shots to give Kuznetsova the break back. It included a key second point which was properly overruled by the chair umpire. After double faulting to trail 0-15, Vaidisova sent a forehand near the baseline which was initially called good. However, Kuznetsova protested, forcing the umpire to come out and check the mark, which was just outside the line to put Kuznetsova within two points of evening the set. Unnerved by the call, Vaidisova donated two more errors to square the set at five all.
Each player held to force a pivotal tiebreak. Kuznetsova grabbed early control racing out to a 4-1 minibreak lead. However, Vaidisova fought back to 5-5 pulling within two points of the match. Serving for 6-5, a big miscue would lead to her demise. In control of a rally, Vaidisova raced up for Kuznetsova's drop shot and misfired a crosscourt forehand wide with the entire court open. Kuznetsova took advantage of another Vaidisova miss to seal the 58-minute set.
"I let her go a little bit. In the second set, she played unbelievable. She was hitting the lines. I was just putting the ball back and taking no risks. She started rushing her shots. I think she got a little nervous," said Kuznetsova.
"I don't think I went crazy nervous or started shaking. It wasn't a factor. It just happened," Vaidisova said after finishing with 47 unforced errors to just 19 for her opponent.
With the momentum finally hers and Vaidisova now misfiring from the baseline, Kuznetsova jumped out to a 4-0 double break lead in the final set.
Vaidisova was never able to recover. With Kuznetsova serving well, she held twice more and sealed victory with an ace down the tee to clinch her first ever French Open final.
"I had my chances. Even when you're 5-4 up and serving, you know you're so far from winning it," Vaidisova pointed out. "It was just me serving not well and her hanging in there. She just started getting her rhythm back. In the third, I didn't have any chances. She played too good. I have to give her credit."
"She's [Henin-Hardenne] going to be a tough opponent," a victorious Kuznetsova said.
A year ago she held match points against Henin-Hardenne in the quarterfinals before losing a heartbreaking three set match.
"Justine is amazing. She's probably the best clay court player on the tour. But I'll have nothing to lose."
Bryan Twins Advance to Doubles Final: The Bryan twins are into another doubles final. The American brother duo Bob and Mike Bryan made a bit of history in their 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory over Andrei Pavel and Alexander Waske.
By reaching their sixth straight Grand Slam final, they became the first doubles combo to ever accomplish that feat in the Open Era.
They'll be looking for their third consecutive slam win when they take on archrivals Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi. Bjorkman and Mirnyi are the defending champions.
"It will be really sweet if we can win three in a row," Mike Bryan said.
"We can beat anyone on any surface, but still, I think the clay is our favorite surface," Bob Bryan said. "We can do it all, we're well-rounded, and clay allows us to take advantage of that. We can use our variety and still serve hard on clay."
In mixed doubles action, Bob Bryan and Martina Navratilova lost in the semifinals to Elena Likhovtseva and Daniel Nestor 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Top Four Men Take Center Stage: For the first time since 1985, the top four men's seeds will be taking part in the semifinals at Roland Garros later today.
Seven-time Grand Slam winner and top seeded Roger Federer takes on third seeded David Nalbandian while defending champion and second seed Rafael Nadal will play first-time slam semifinalist, No. 4 seed Ivan Ljubicic.
Federer is looking to win his fourth consecutive slam. He won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year and also the Australian Open back in January. If the 24-year-old Federer can win in Paris, he will complete the career slam.
The 20-year-old Nadal is looking to repeat.
Standing in the way of a Federer-Nadal final are Nalbandian and Ljubicic. Both will try to foil that much anticipated match-up. If the two underdogs prevail, it would guarantee a new slam champion.
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