US Open: Justine Henin-Hardenne has joined a select band of women who have played in all four grand slam finals in the same season. The Belgian won the Australian and French Open titles, lost to Amelie Mauresmo in the Wimbledon final and today reached the US Open final against Maria Sharapova with a 4-6 6-4 6-0 victory over Serbia's Jelena Jankovic.
The other six women to achieve the feat are some of the game's legends — Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Martina Navratilova, Margaret Court and Chris Evert.
Asked how it felt to join such illustrious company, Henin-Hardenne said: "It's a great feeling. It's an amazing season for me — it's almost a dream this year.
Henin-Hardenne believes semi-final opponent Jankovic represents "the future" of the women's tour, after the Serbian put up a spirited fight against the world number two.
"She had an unbelievable tournament," Henin-Hardenne said. "She beat (Nicole) Vaidisova, (Svetlana) Kuznetsova, (Elena) Dementieva. You have to play well to beat these kind of players. She did improve a lot and she was in confidence this week.
"So we've seen the future. She is very talented, we can see it. So she doesn't give a lot of points. In the first set, she didn't give a lot of points."
Henin-Hardenne will meet Sharapova who broke her Grand Slam semi-final jinx in grand fashion.
The third-seeded Sharapova pounded her way past top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo 6-0 4-6 6-0 to reach the final.
Her record against the Belgian is played five, lost four, but Sharapova insists past records count for little as far as she is concerned.
"I hadn't beaten Amelie in a competition match before. I beat her today," the Russian said. "I don't have a great record against Justine so it doesn't really matter. It's a new match, a new opportunity.
Since making her surprising run to the 2004 Wimbledon title, 19-year-old Sharapova had reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam five times but lost them all, including a straight-sets defeat to eventual champion Kim Clijsters at Flushing Meadows a year ago.