Henin ready for revenge mission

Justine Henin scored her most significant win since beating Jennifer Capriati to reach last year's Wimbledon final when she out-thought Monica Seles to reach the semi-finals yesterday. The 20-year-old Belgian's 7-5, 7-6 success was her first in five attempts against the former world No1 and was a triumph not only for the most complete all-court game of any of the surviving women but for a temperament which has occasionally been questioned.

Henin has twice failed to take advantage of good leads in the past against Seles, but this time she survived an infuriating half-hour rain delay, then recovered from a three-game deficit in the second set, and eventually played her most exciting tennis in the tie-breaker when it most mattered.

"I played without any complex," Henin said with the special pleasure of someone who has also conquered herself. "It was windy, but I didn't think about the conditions and I just tried to focus on my game. I didn't think about everything around me. And finally I wasn't afraid to play her."

It helped her greatly that this was the first time they had played on grass, which once again revealed itself as more responsive than other surfaces to the mixtures of spins and angles which Henin so colourfully employs. It was as though she had refound herself, and when that happened she played almost without inhibition.

Henin's ability to do that may have ensured that Seles's distant hopes of snatching the one grand slam title to have eluded her have now slipped away. The 28-year-old was last week talking about retirement being not far away and her words yesterday continued the theme. "I realise this could be the one which got away and I am fine with that," she said.

There were times when that shot seemed good enough to account for Henin for a fifth time. Seles forced herself to move forward more in the second set, and although she rarely moved in as close to the net as she could have done, the policy began to apply pressure.

The high point of this was a charge behind a fierce forehand and, from the topspin reply, she feathered a delicately brilliant stop volley winner, which revealed the grunting thwacker to possess unexpectedly velvet hands. It put Henin at 15-40 and on the next point she served a double fault.

But Seles, the unluckiest player on the tour, had another slice of bad luck. At 4-2, 30-30 on her service she launched a snorting backhand down the line which would almost certainly have won her the point, only for a line judge to call it out and then immediately to change the decision.

Seles was furious, but there was no option but for the umpire to call for the point to be replayed. When it was, Seles attempted a similar shot down the forehand sideline and saw it sail an agonising couple of inches wide. You could feel a break of serve coming after that, and it happened at once when Seles edgily tried to drive a short ball over the high part of the net and failed.

She still managed to save four break points in the longest game of the match in her next service game, but by now Henin was holding serve easily and making some tigerish runs across court to counter Seles's heaviest blows. The psychology had tilted and by now it was the experienced American and not the pale-faced Belgian who was feeling the tension. In the tie-break she lost a mini-break imediately by over-hitting, and she lost another at 1-4 when Henin found an exquisite angle with her forehand. When it was finished there was a fatalism about Seles reaction which made you wondered whether she would be back.

Henin's success earned her a repeat of last year's final against Venus Williams. "I think it will be a fabulous match," said Seles generously. "Venus is playing almost flawlessly but Justine will be wanting revenge."

Henin will be hard pushed to achieve it but knows how to seek it. "Venus is serving so well and so maybe it will depend on how she serves," she said. "But the key is like today - I went to the net and I wasn't afraid and I wasn't nervous."