Tennis: It was once widely thought Belgium's two great rivals did not much like each other. Today, though, Justine Henin-Hardenne, the French Open champion, will meet Kim Clijsters, the title holder, in an International Championships semi-final in Eastbourne amid an atmosphere of determined cordiality.
Henin and Clijsters have apparently smoothed out their relationship to further their country's chances of regaining the Fed Cup. But according to Clijsters after yesterday's 6-2, 6-1 victory over Francesca Schiavone, the world number 14 from Italy, it never had a rough edge at all.
"People mistook us a little bit," she claimed. "We have always talked in the locker-room, but people don't see that. We have won playing the Fed Cup together, and had a great week. We have different personalities, but that does not mean I don't like her at all."
Henin, who won 6-2, 6-4 against Elena Likhovtseva, the world number 29 from Russia, saw it a little differently. "Playing Fed Cup together helped for sure," she said. "But there is a lot of competition between all players, and we come from such a small country which makes things more difficult. We never lost the respect between each other. It's not like we will have dinner together, but it's difficult between all the players and not more between me and Kim. We have been very professional and adult playing to help Belgium."
This sounded more like the containing of emotions than denying they had existed. Henin was a model of control too in a match played in extremely difficult conditions. It was notable for the wind-assisted comic blooper of the decade, when Likhovtseva delivered a table-tennis serve from the bottom edge of the racket frame, on to her side of the court, and over to the other side.
Clijsters' tie was conspicuous for Schiavone following three spectacularly missed smashes with a noise like a train entering a tunnel, and for Clijsters claiming "it is mentally good for you to play in conditions like this and battle through". One wondered what noise Schiavone might have made in response to that.
Henin said today's battle of the Belgians "will still just be preparation for Wimbledon" but Clijsters declared she had to "play grass-court tennis and keep the errors down."
The other semi is an all-Russian affair between Anastasia Myskina, the former French Open champion, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, the former US Open champion, who saved three match points before beating Anna-Lena Groenefeld, the 21-year-old German, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6.
Meanwhile, it was not only the blustery conditions that blew Andy Murray off course in the Nottingham Open. Having remarked on how relaxed he felt in previous rounds, the British number two cut a frustrated figure as he bowed out at the quarter-final stage, throwing away the chance of his first title on grass by losing to Italian Andreas Seppi, 6-7, 6-4, 1-6.
Murray said he had never encountered such windy weather in a match before and although Seppi, ranked 27 places below him, also struggled initially to adjust, the Italian played with far greater composure. His forehand, executed with precision time and again, wore Murray down. Guardian Service
