Tennis: Battle of the Belgians

The Belgian rivals go head-to-head in the semi-finals of the Hastings Direct Championships following comfortable victories in yesterday's quarter-finals.

Defending champion Clijsters slaughtered Italian sixth seed Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-1.

Henin-Hardenne was almost as impressive in her 6-2, 6-4 win over Russian Elena Likhovtseva.

World No. 2 Clijsters and Henin-Hardenne, the world No. 3, have not always played together for Belgium in the Federation Cup, inflaming the suspicion that they do not get on.

Clijsters rejects that and hopes Henin-Hardenne will be alongside her in the team when Belgium face America in the Fed Cup semi-finals in Ostend next month.

"People want to automatically assume because you are from the same country there is a really big rivalry but I don't look at it that way," said Clijsters.

"I think she deserves everything she has made in her career. She's a nice girl. We're different personalities but that doesn't mean I don't like her at all.

"I think that's where a lot of people are mistaken a little bit, because we have always talked in locker rooms but that is behind the scenes, so nobody really sees that.

"If one of us doesn't play Fed Cup people automatically assume it's because we don't want to play together. I haven't played Fed Cup a couple of times because it didn't fit into my schedule or I was injured.

"We had so much fun in the Fed Cup that we played last time in Liege but we also had fun when we played in Bree two years ago."

History points to a titanic struggle today between the powerfully built Clijsters and the much slighter Henin-Hardenne.

They stand at 10-10 in previous encounters, although Henin-Hardenne has the upper hand recently, winning six of the last nine meetings including the French and US Open finals in 2003 and the Australian Open final in 2004.

Their most recent clash was in the semi-finals at Roland Garros earlier this month, Henin-Hardenne winning comfortably in straight sets on clay on her way to retaining the French Open crown.

Clay is her favourite surface but she still managed to beat Clijsters in three sets on grass in the final at Shertogenbosch in 2001.

Their only other outing on grass was in the final of the same event two years later, when Henin-Hardenne retired in the second set.

Clijsters knows she has her work cut out. "Her serve has improved a lot, which will definitely help her on grass, and she moves so well and has that slice which keeps the ball really low, so it's going to be important for me to play grass court tennis.

"It's going to be tougher for her to get balls back on grass, because they skid through a little more, but she's still one of the fastest girls out there.

"Even this year I think I have played some of my best clay court tennis but nothing compared to how she plays on clay."

Clijsters goes into the match in great heart. She had more trouble with the strong wind on centre court yesterday than an out-of-sorts Schiavone.

The intimidated Italian has now lost to her on all 12 occasions they have faced each other without winning a set.

Clijsters said: "You try to play as well as you possibly can in those conditions but it's not easy. So many returns hit the frame, because the wind is moving the ball the whole time.

"I played well. She made a lot of mistakes and missed a lot of easy chances, because of the wind, but what's important to me is that I am still in the tournament."

Remarkably, Clijsters has been on court for less than an hour so far.

She despatched Schiavone in just 44 minutes yesterday, having played only three games in the previous round before her opponent Vera Zvonareva retired hurt.

That may not be the ideal preparation for such a gritty customer as Henin-Hardenne, who was particularly happy with her first set performance against Likhovtseva, ranked 29, if not the weather.

"I played very consistently in the first set and was putting a lot of pressure on her," she said. "The wind was awful again. It's very tough to find a good rhythmn."

What of that rivalry with Clijsters? Henin-Hardenne has not decided yet whether she will play in the Fed Cup semi against the States but she said: "Playing the Fed Cup again together this year helped for sure.

"We come from such a little country and that makes things a little bit more difficult but we've never lost the respect for each other.

"It's not like we go and have dinner together but it's tough between all the players and no more so between Kim and me.

"We are very professional and give our best to help Belgium win in the Fed Cup."

The good news for the semi-finalists and spectators flocking to Eastbourne is that the wind is forecast to drop today.

Attendance figures have soared to a ten-year high this week, Monday's figure of 4,376 being the best since 1996.

On Tuesday and Wednesday - when world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo crashed out to Dechy - attendances reached 4,398 and 5,333 respectively and ticket sales are 9.5 per cent up on 2005 Eastbourne specialist Svetlana Kuznetsova has progressed almost un-noticed in the other half of the draw but the 2004 champion and fourth seed had an almighty scare yesterday against German seventh seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

She survived three match points in the final set and a code violation in the deciding tie-break to squeeze through 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) and now faces fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina, seeded five, who overcame Nathalie Dechy 6-4, 6-4.