World number one Justine Henin moved a step closer to her 35th career title by taking down Chinese qualifier Yan Zi 6-3, 6-0 in the semi-finals of this 1.34 million dollar hardcourt event Saturday.
Henin, who is seeking her sixth title of the season, will face second seed Jelena Jankovic, a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 winner over France's Tatiana Golovin.
Yan advanced to the semi-finals the US Open tune-up when ailing Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli retired while trailing in their quarter-final clash.
Henin is playing in her first tournament since losing in the semi-finals at Wimbledon against Bartoli. The 2003 champion of this event, Henin is unbeaten in eight sets here en route to improving her season record to 42-4.
Including four meetings this year, Henin owns a 6-0 lead in her career series against Jankovic, with five of those victories coming in semi-final matches. This will mark their first meeting in a final.
Still, the Serbian has won a career-best four titles this season, including the hardcourt tournament in Auckland back in January, to climb steadily up the rankings.
Playing in her third semi-final of the year, Golovin did not make things easy for Jankovic in their evening match. Whether it was an uncharacteristic collapse by Jankovic or simply solid play on her part, Golovin pulled off an improbable first-set victory.
The 19-year-old fell behind, 5-2, but stormed back to break the world's third-ranked player three times en route to winning five straight games to close the set.
After losing the first game of the second set, Jankovic returned to form as she converted 13-of-15 first-serve points, broke Golovin twice and saved both break points she faced. After trading a break point with Golovin early in the third set, Jankovic rolled to the finish by winning the final four games.
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