Russian reversal

Justine Henin-Hardenne underlined her status as tournament favourite with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Nadia Petrova in a one-sided French Open s...

Justine Henin-Hardenne underlined her status as tournament favourite with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Nadia Petrova in a one-sided French Open semi-final on Thursday.

The Belgian dynamo outgunned her seventh-seeded opponent to notch up her 23rd consecutive victory and reach her second Roland Garros final.

Mary Pierce delighted her home fans by crushing Russian Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 6-1 to set up a French Open final against fellow former champion Justine Henin-Hardenne.

The 30-year-old Frenchwoman, seeded 21st, returned to her brilliant best with perfect timing to reach her third final on the Paris clay and the first since her 2000 triumph. Likhovtseva, the 16th seed, was unable to cope with Pierce8217;s superior power and determination, bowing out after just 58 minutes when her opponent fired a forehand winner on her first match point.

8220;I8217;ve got a lot of memories8230; a lot of emotions here,8221; the 2003 French Open champion Henin said. 8220;It feels a little like being at home.8221;

Russian Petrova was simply overwhelmed.

8220;I don8217;t see anybody winning this tournament except Justine,8221; she said.

The former world No.1 was robbed of her top ranking by an energy-sapping viral illness last year and only returned to tennis in April after recovering from a knee fracture.

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She has lost just one match since, however, winning three warm-up events on clay heading into Paris.

8220;It would be great for me to finish the season unbeaten on clay,8221; Henin smiled. Reuters

Leander-Navratilova enter final

Leander Paes and Martina Navratilova stormed into the final of the French Open mixed doubles tennis championship with a straight set win over Samantha Stosur and Paul Hanley of Australia. The sixth seed Indo-USA pair got the better of the unseeded Australians 6-2, 6-3 to keep alive their hopes of a third Grand Slam title together. The duo had won the Australian Open and the Wimbledon title in 2003. They will now face the winner of the another semifinal between Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia/Fabrice Santoro of France and fourth seed Anastasia Myskina of Russia/Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden. In the quarterfinals, Paes and Navratilova had beaten Corina Morariu and Jared Palmer of USA 7-6 7/5, 4-6, 6-3.

ROGER VS RAFA

	nbsp;	This should have been the final. The current and future superstars of tennis clash in the semis on Friday in the most compelling match of all at this French Open. Here8217;s how they stack up Rafael Nadal Age: 19 Birthday on Friday Seeded: 4 In one line: Ruthless sharpshooter on assignment Modus Operandi: Running down every ball, big shot-making, intimidating on-court demeanour, clenched fists and shouts of 8216;vamos8217; after every point Main Weapons: Vicious left-handed top spin forehands and speed Weakness: Federer seems to know; he believes Nadal fades away quickly. At Key Biscayne this year Nadal was two sets up and two points away from victory but Federer recovered to win in five sets Big Paris Moment: Thrashing homeboy and fellow tyro Richard Gasquet in straight sets before partisan crowd The Edge: This is clay, Nadal territory The Odds: Evens to win Roger Federer Age: 23 and we thought he was young Seeded: 1 In one line: Most gifted player in the game Modus Operandi: Killing with grace Main Weapons: Single-handed backhand and silken volleys Weakness: Can be beaten if opponent is prepared to outfight and outlive him. Nadal has also done it before, so has Marat Safin Big Paris Moment: Straight-set win over former champion and clay court specialist Carlos Moya The Edge: Experience, big-match temperament and that comeback win over Nadal The Odds: 8/11 favourite	nbsp;