Melbourne: Belgium's eighth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne came through a tough three-set fight against fourth seed Maria Sharapova to reach the final of the Australian Open on Thursday.
The Belgian came from behind to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 with a backhand down the line to end the Russian's drive to reach her first-ever Australian Open final.
Henin-Hardenne, who won here on her last appearance in 2004 against Kim Clijsters, will play either newly-crowned world number one Clijsters or in form third seed Amelie Mauresmo on Saturday.
One of the most tenacious fighters in women's tennis, Henin-Hardenne looked out of it after losing the first set under the roof of the Rod Laver Arena but steadied herself to take the fight to Sharapova.
The Russian 18-year-old, a semi-finalist last year, had talked about toughness being her major weapon going into the semis but she found an opponent just as resilient in the nuggety world number six.
"We played a great match. It's been very intense physically, especially in the first set and at the end of the match," said the Belgian.
"I am very happy with the way I played, very happy to be again in the final here, it's a great atmosphere. Now I have to recover physically because it's been very hard after last year. She played a great match and I had to be 100 per cent on each point and now it's time for me to rest before the big day on Saturday."
Henin-Hardenne will now have the chance to claim her fifth Grand Slam title and a second trophy to add to the one she won at Melbourne Park in 2004.
The 23-year-old, the bookies' favourite to win the tournament, has lost only one of her five Grand Slam final appearances, at Wimbledon in 2001.
Her appearance in the decider marks a remarkable comeback from illness and injury that plagued her in 2005 and takes her Australian Open winning streak to 14 matches, including the 2004 camapign and excluding last year's non-appearance.
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