Henin-Hardenne reaches German Open final
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-08 09:41

Justine Henin-Hardenne took another formidable step in her comeback, routing Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-0, 6-1 in a steady drizzle Saturday to reach the German Open final.

The Belgian stretched her winning streak to 16 matches since her return from a virus and injury that sidelined her for seven months.

Henin-Hardenne will play Nadia Petrova of Russia on Sunday for the title of this $1.3 million clay-court tuneup for the French Open. Petrova defeated Jelena Jankovic of Serbia-Montenegro 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 in the other semifinal.

A day after eliminating top-seeded Maria Sharapova, Henin-Hardenne overwhelmed her opponent with hard backhands, changes of pace and charges to the net — a new wrinkle in her game.

"I should play like that all the time, the way my coach wants and the way I've been practicing," Henin-Hardenne said. "When I'm aggressive like that, I'm better. It's easier on my body — the rallies aren't as long."

Henin-Hardenne showed off her new serve-and-volley tactics in a straight-set victory Friday against Sharapova. That ended the Russian's bid to gain the No. 1 ranking by winning the German Open.

Henin-Hardenne is 19-1 since her return. The former No. 1 player is chasing her third title in four events, coming off consecutive wins at Charleston, S.C., and Warsaw, Poland.

"It's wonderful how things have gone, but the way is very long," she said. "I'm going to have to keep working very hard if I'm going to get back to the top of tennis as I was before.

"I've learned in life things go quick," she added. "One day you are great, the next day you're falling down."

Henin-Hardenne, seeded 12th, left the court beaming after ending Schnyder's chances of entering the top 10 in the rankings for the first time in five years. Schnyder, seeded seventh and ranked 13th, had gotten past Kim Clijsters, who quit because of injury, and U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in her last two matches.

After Henin-Hardenne lost the first two points of the match, she didn't trail in another game until dropping the opener of the second set.

"She played super well — everybody could see that," Schnyder said after the 51-minute loss. "When she plays like that, you have no chance."

Petrova, seeded sixth, has bounced in and out of the top 10. She is ranked 12th and is trying to win her first title. In doubles, however, she has 11 titles.

The Russian served an ace at match point to eliminate the 13th-seeded Jankovic, once the top-ranked junior, after squandering leads of 5-3 and 3-0 in the second-set tiebreaker.

Petrova defeated Serena Williams 6-2, 6-3 last year, the American's worst loss in five years. She also knocked Henin-Hardenne out of last year's U.S. Open.

"I'm not surprised at how fast Justine has come back, not at all, not a player of her quality," Petrova said.

Jankovic played twice Saturday. She completed a rain-delayed match against eighth-seeded Elena Bovina, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 after the two players split two sets Friday before darkness halted their match.

Friday's rain, which slowed the clay courts, led to a host of upsets, with Sharapova and Kuznetsova ousted along with second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo.

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