Williams is Beaten and Then Cries 'foul'

Serena Williams, crying openly after losing her French Open semi-final at Roland Garros yesterday which brought to an end her run of four successive grand slam titles, accused Justine Henin-Hardenne of "lying and fabricating" after losing 6-2,4-6,7-5 to the Belgian.

This outburst followed an incident in the third set when Henin-Hardenne raised her hand as if she was not ready to receive a serve. Williams served anyway but claimed she was distracted and asked the Portuguese umpire, Jorge Dias, for two serves.

Dias said he had not seen the incident and Henin-Hardenne remained silent, which clearly upset Williams.

Previously the crowd had barracked against the American world No1 when she had called two of her opponent's shots out. "They showed a lack of class and total ignorance," said Oracene Price, the mother of Venus and Serena Williams.

Before this year's French Open the sisters had played each other in four successive grand slams, with Serena winning all four. Venus went out this time in the fourth round.

"It was a tough crowd out there today, the story of my life," Serena said.

"I think it's bad when people start booing in between serves, or other people are egging them on by doing ridiculous things."

The crowd, containing many Belgians, had been equally partisan when cheering Kim Clijsters to a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Nadia Petrova of Russia in the first semi-final.

But the booing of Williams was inexcusable, even though Henin-Hardenne well deserved her unexpected win, paving the way for Belgium's first grand slam champion when the pair meet in tomorrow's final.