It’s a Davenport vs Henin-Hardenne final

New Haven (Connecticut): Second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne set up an intriguing final against defending champion Lindsay Davenport at the New Haven event after both came through their semi-finals on Friday.

Belgian Henin-Hardenne, in her first event since Wimbledon, hammered former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-3 in the late match.

The French Open champion was in top form as she crunched winners from all parts of the court, cruising through to her eighth final of the year.

Davenport, in only her second tournament back after five months out through injury, edged out Australian Samantha Stosur 7-6 7-6 to avenge her defeat by the Australian in Los Angeles two weeks ago.

After a rain delay of more than three hours, Davenport, who beat world number one Amelie Mauresmo in the previous round, let slip an early break in the first set but won the tiebreak 7-3.

She missed five match points in the second set before taking another tiebreak 9-7 when a Stosur return sailed just long. "I'm ecstatic to be in the finals," Davenport said.

"I wouldn't have guessed that a few weeks ago, a few months ago, let alone a few days ago. It's a huge accomplishment for me."

The match took more than two hours and Davenport admitted she was starting to feel the effects of her efforts this week. "I'm feeling fatigued," she said.

"I played more tennis this week than I have in six months. It's an adjustment for my body. My shoulder was getting really heavy - it wasn't hurt - but it just feels like everything is being used more than it has been for quite a while."

Davenport has lost her past six meetings with Henin-Hardenne. "I have lost to Justine a number of times in a row now. I'm not quite sure how many, you probably don't even want to hear the number," she said.

"It would be nice if I could change that tide sooner rather than later. (But) she's a very tough opponent and she plays very well against me. (In the Australian Open), I lost a pretty tough three-set match to her."

In the men's event, Argentine 10th seed Agustin Calleri advanced to the final when Belgian Xavier Malisse retired after losing the first set.

He will play either second seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia or Swede Robin Soderling in Saturday's final.