Top-seeded Justine Henin of Belgium battled past two-time champion Venus Williams 7-6, 6-4 this morning (local time) to line up a US Open final against Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.
French Open champion Henin, the 2003 US Open winner, captured the first-set tiebreaker 7-2 and broke the 12th-seeded Williams in the 10th game of the second set to claim victory.
Fourth-seeded Kuznetsova, who won the Open in 2004, overcame an early bout of nerves to beat compatriot Anna Chakvetadze 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 in her semi-final on a hot, humid day at New York's Flushing Meadows.
Henin and Williams were meeting for the first time since Williams prevailed in the semi-finals of the 2003 Australian Open.
The nearly two-hour match, marked by rousing rallies and spiced with numerous volley exchanges at the net, was Henin's second win against seven losses to Williams, the 2000 and 2001 US winner.
In contrast to the high-quality of the Henin-Williams match, Kuznetsova prevailed in an error-filled contest.
Kuznetsova lost her serve four times and had 21 errors in a sloppy opening set, but won 12 of the last 13 games to close out the 96-minute match on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The men's semi-finals will be played tonight before the women's final, with triple champion Roger Federer gunning to reach his 10th straight grand slam final when he takes on gritty Russian Nikolay Davydenko, the fourth seed.
The other semi-final has third-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic against Spaniard David Ferrer, the 15th seed, who beat French Open champion Rafael Nadal on the way to his first appearance in the last four of a grand slam.
In the men's doubles, Swede Simon Aspelin and Austrian Julian Knowle won their first grand slam title by defeating Czechs Lukas Dlouhy and Pavel Vizner 7-5, 6-4. © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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