Former champion Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium has beaten Russian Nadia Petrova to reach the finals of the French Open tennis tournament in Paris.
Henin-Hardenne, the 2003 winner, beat Petrova in straight sets (6-2, 6-3) to reach her fourth final of the year.
The Belgian also beat Petrova in the finals of the Berlin Masters clay court tournament last month and has won three clay-court tournaments this season -- all against Russian opponents.
Henin-Hardenne takes on the winner of the day's other semifinal between 2000 French Open champion Mary Pierce of France and Elena Likhovtseva of Russia.
The men's semifinals are Friday with world number one player Roger Federer of Switzerland taking on Spain's Rafael Nadal, and Nikolay Davydenko of Russia facing Mariano Puerta of Argentina.
Some information for this report provided by AP.