Serena Shocked By Belgian's Bite

The French Open ladies singles final will be an all-Belgian affair, after Justine Henin-Hardenne ended the grand slam dominance of Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters beat Nadia Petrova.

Before today, Serena had gone 33 grand slam matches without losing. But amid racuous scenes at Roland Garros - in which the crowd's anti-American sentiment often spilled over into sheer nastiness - Henin-Hardenne stunned the defending champion 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

Henin-Hardenne, her classical backhand working to perfection, dominated the first set and, after conceding the second, held herself together in a nervous decider to seal an enthralling victory.

Earlier, Clijsters recovered from a sluggish start to reach her second French Open final with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Petrova.

The Belgian, the second seed at Roland Garros, initially struggled to find her game. But with the Russian holding a set-point, Clijsters was the recipient of a huge slice of luck when her shot slapped into the net cord and bobbled over.

From then on the unseeded Petrova - who was bidding to become the first Russian to reach a grand slam final since Olga Morozova did so here and at Wimbledon in 1974 - was demoralised and the match went Clijster's way.

"Those things can definitely turn matches around," she smiled as she left the court. "Once I broke her back I felt really confident I could do it."