Justine Henin of Belgium celebrates defeating Venus Williams of the United States, after their match at the U. S. Open tennis tournament in Flushing Meadows, New York, yesterday.- Reuters NEW YORK (AP):

Venus Williams left the United States Open the same way Serena Williams did, undone by all those big shots off the racket of little Justine Henin. In a riveting match filled with superb all-court play, Henin became only the second woman to beat both Williams sisters at the same Grand Slam tournament, reaching the final at Flushing Meadows with a 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory over Venus yesterday.

"I just went with my heart. I just kept fighting," Henin said. "I got a bit nervous, but finally I did it. I'm happy to get this one."

The number one-ranked Henin will face number-four Svetlana Kuznetsova tonight in a title match featuring two past Open champions.

Physically spent

Henin eliminated Serena in the quarter-finals, and Venus said she wanted to right that wrong. But it was the 5-foot-5, 125-pound Henin who worked every angle yesterday, constructing points, sneaking to the net and repeatedly placing balls on the lines.

Henin had some trouble breathing early in the second set and said afterward it was something that bothered her the past few days. By the end, however, Williams was the one who was physically spent, asking for a trainer to come out and check her pulse and temperature. Right after that, she hit some serves in the 70s while getting broken to trail 5-3 in the second set.

That's not to say the older Williams wasn't good at times, too. She broke when Henin served for the first set at 5-4, ending a 10-stroke point with a backhand passing winner, and a 16-stroke exchange with a cross-court forehand winner on the line.

In the next game, Williams won the point of the match on the 27th shot, a cross-court swinging forehand volley. But Henin broke right back to end it.

Appropriately, the final shot was a backhand by Williams that sailed out, her 35th unforced error - 13 more than Henin.

Henin will be a heavy favourite to avoid a similar letdown. She is 14-2 against Kuznetsova, including a victory in the 2006 French Open final.

"I don't want to think about it," said Kuznetsova, who got off to a horrible start in her all-Russian semifinal against number six Anna Chakvetadze.

Horrible play

How horrible? Chakvetadze won the first set, despite hitting only one winner. And then, slowly but surely, 2004 champion Kuznetsova began keeping the ball between the lines and Chakvetadze began missing shots short, long and wide. In full control late, Kuznetsova defeated Chakvetadze 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.

"I played the worst first set. I couldn't put the ball in and I was really embarrassed by my game," Kuznetsova said."When the nerves get in the middle, it's tough."

Later on, though, it was Chakvetadze who was struggling to keep her composure, wiping away tears while waiting to return serves in the final game.

"I just played horrible," she said. "Just couldn't put the ball in the court."