Henin extends winning streak against Jankovic

By Kevin Fylan

STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - Justine Henin extended her perfect record against Jelena Jankovic on Saturday, posting a 7-6 7-5 victory over the third-seeded Serbian to seal a place in the Stuttgart Grand Prix final.

Henin was joined in the final by the unseeded Tatiana Golovin of France, after she upset the Russian second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 6-4 in just 70 minutes.

World number one Henin, appearing in her first tournament since winning the U.S. Open, started brilliantly against Jankovic but had to play her way through a ragged patch before coming through.

It was an eighth victory in as many matches for Henin against Jankovic, and a 15th consecutive win in all since her semi-final defeat by Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon.

"We've had a lot of great fights and this was another one," Henin said at a news conference.

Henin looked set for an easy ride on her way to the final as she marched into a 5-2 lead in the first set.

Jankovic held her serve to love in the next and then broke back only to get in trouble on her own service game again.

At 30-40 and set point, Henin put the simplest of overheads into the net to let her opponent off the hook.