Justine Henin withstood a strong challenge from Serbian Jelena Jankovic to win 7-5 2-6 6-4 and reach her fourth final of the year at the Warsaw Cup on Saturday.
The top-seeded Belgian took two hours 36 minutes to see off Jankovic and will face unseeded Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko in the final, who held her nerve in the second set tie-break to clinch a 6-2 7-6 (7/4) triumph over third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
It was Henin's 18th victory this year, with her only defeats coming in the semi-finals of the Paris indoor event and the Miami final.
Henin, winner in Dubai and Doha, could have claimed victory more easily after sweeping to a 4-0 lead in the first set and then holding points to lead 2-0 in the second.
Instead, fourth seed Jankovic held, broke to lead 2-1 and went on to secure the set with a further break for 5-2.
Henin again let her advantage slip in the deciding set.
The Belgian led 3-1, but Jankovic broke her in the next game, and when Henin held a break point to lead 5-3 she dumped a weak return into the net.
As the set seemed destined for a tiebreak, Jankovic made two forehand errors to drop her serve at 5-4.
‘I don't know how many times I've lost against her and it's always been in the third set. Very tough, a few points deciding the winner,’ Jankovic said.
‘She's a lot more experienced than me and I think that's the difference.’
