Henin reaches her 1st Key Biscayne final

Justine Henin raised a fist, shook it and punched the balmy air, basking in her best showing ever at Key Biscayne. She reached the final for the first time Thursday, beating Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-3 at the Sony Ericsson Open.

The top-ranked Henin is a five-time Grand Slam champion, but until this year she had never advanced beyond the quarterfinals at Key Biscayne. She says she dislikes the island's windy weather and tends to play poorly in March because it's the anniversary of her mother's death.

"It is a challenge for me," Henin said. "I just live for now. I'm not in the past anymore. I just try to enjoy every moment, not try to project myself too far in the future and forget a little bit of what happened in the past."

Henin's opponent in the final will be the winner of the semifinal Thursday night between three-time champion Serena Williams and No. 14-seeded Shahar Peer. Henin versus Williams was once a fierce rivalry, but they haven't met since the 2003 Wimbledon semifinals.

No. 7 Ivan Ljubicic advanced to Friday's men's semifinals by beating No. 23 Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 7-5. Ljubicic, last year's runner-up, will play the winner of the match Thursday night between qualifier Guillermo Canas _ who upset Roger Federer in the fourth round _ and No. 6 Tommy Robredo.

The other semifinal will be between two 19-year-olds, No. 10 Novak Djokovic and No. 12 Andy Murray.

Henin said she has been hindered during the tournament by a breathing problem, possibly allergies, and is taking medication. She barely survived the third round, overcoming a 5-1 deficit in the third set to beat Virginie Razzano.

But against the ninth-seeded Chakvetadze, Henin took charge from the start.

The latest Russian to crack the women's top 10, Chakvetadze played tentatively early and lost the first set in 33 minutes. In the second set, serving at 40-0, she lost five consecutive points to fall behind 2-0.

Henin hit consecutive aces to close out the next game, and saved some of her most aggressive groundstrokes for the final few games. Chakvetadze lost 20 of 35 points on her first serve and was broken five times.

"She did a lot of mistakes," Henin said. "I played the kind of game she doesn't like that much. I had a solution to every ball she was hitting today, and I used my slice a lot."

"Justine can mix her game," Chakvetadze said. "That's why she's No. 1."

Henin reached every major final last year. She's 15-1 this year, but skipped the Australian Open in January because she was going through a divorce.

"Emotionally, I still have to find a good balance," she said. "I had a pretty tough time early in the year."

The Belgian is seeded second but reclaimed the top ranking last week from Maria Sharapova and will remain No. 1 next week.