Former French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne stormed past Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-3 in just over an hour to reach the final at the French Open Thursday.

Henin-Hardenne excitedly leapt into the air when the 2003 champ in Paris forced her seventh-seeded Russian opponent to hit the ball too long to clinch the one-hour-8-minute match on her first match point.

The two exchanged breaks at the start of the semifinal before the Belgian 10th seed broke Petrova again in the third and seventh games.

The start of the second set once again saw the exchange of breaks and Petrova held her only serive game until Henin-Hardenne started to broke her in the seventh and won on the ninth.

Henin-Hardenne was handed an second round exit by Italian Tathiana Garbin last year. She didn't play due to the viral illness until Athens Olympic Games but was forced to be sidelined because of a right knee fracture suffered during practice session in December, 2004.

Henin-Hardenne has won three titles in Charleston, Warsaw and Berlin since her comeback starting in Miami where she finished last eight.

Now she has improved her head-to-head record against Petrova to 7-1 and extended her winning streak to 23 matches.

Source: Xinhua