Top seed Justine Henin downed American Venus Williams 7-6 (7-2) and 6-4 on Friday to reach the US Open final for the third time.

 

The world number one was broken when serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set but broke the American in the next game to set up a final against 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.

 

"We both played really great tennis, especially at the end of the first set," Henin said. "I got a bit nervous but I just kept fighting a lot and I am very happy about this win."

 

The Belgian broke in the opening game and held her advantage all the way to 5-4 only to lose three set points as Williams hit back to level.

 

The American was two points away from the set at 6-5 and 30-30 on the Henin serve but the Belgian then played a superb tiebreak to win it 7-2.

 

Henin ran to a 3-0 lead in the second set before Williams hit back to level at 3-3 and then had 0-4 on Henin's serve in the seventh game. The 2003 champion saved them all and then broke for 5-3.

 

Wimbledon champion Williams broke back to be on serve but Henin broke again to clinch victory to reach the final of a grand slam event for the sixth time in her past seven attempts.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 8, 2007)