Win worth the wait as Henin finishes Williams tennis sweep

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NEW YORK, United States Sept 8 (AFP): Justine Henin had not played Venus Williams in 4 1/2 years but she found the outcome well worth the wait, completing a rare sweep of the Williams sisters Friday to reach the US Open women's final.
World number one Henin defeated the reigning Wimbledon champion 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 in a showdown of six-time Grand Slam champions to book a date in Saturday night's championship match against Russian fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Kuznetsova, whose only Slam title came at the 2004 US Open, defeated Russian sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 in an error-filled semi-final that only cemented the notion of the Williams-Henin winner as a title favourite.
Putting past defeats behind her, Henin took a new-found confidence stemming in part from the breakup of her marriage and a reunion with her family this year and imposed her will upon Venus as she had done with Serena before her.
"I didn't believe enough in myself, didn't trust myself enough in the last few years against them. And then this year a lot of things have changed. I trust myself much more," Henin said.
"I still have a lot of respect, but I'm not scared any more. It has been really, really important to me in this tournament to play both of them. It was a great challenge and I did it."
Williams had won seven of eight prior matches against Henin, losing only their first meeting in 2001 on Berlin clay, but had not faced the Belgian since a 2003 Australian Open semi-final, that before Henin had won a single Slam.
"I think I've changed more than what they think about my game now. I've changed my point of view when I play against them," Henin said.
"They both have a lot of personality and a lot of character and they are both great champions. I can admit that and it is tough to play against them."
Henin, who won her third consecutive French Open crown in June, ousted younger sister Serena Williams in the quarter-finals and pulled off only the sixth sweep of the US siblings, just the second in a Grand Slam event.