Justine Henin-Hardenne served notice she is back to her devastating best with a 6-3, 6-1 thrashing of Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi-finals of the Sydney International in Sydney on Thursday.

The Belgian fifth seed hardly broke sweat on a hot and humid day at Sydney's Olympic Tennis Centre as she booked her place in Friday's final against either seventh seed Francesca Schiavone or eighth seed Nicole Vaidisova.

Italy's [Images] Schiavone and Czech Vaidisova are due to play later on Thursday.

World number eight Henin-Hardenne won the opening set in 43 minutes then raced through the second in just 27 minutes to remain unbeaten in Australia for three years and warn her rivals she is on course for a big showing at next week's Australian Open in Melbourne.

The 23-year-old won the Sydney International then the Australian Open in 2004 but a knee injury prevented her from defending her titles last year.

Former world number one Henin-Hardenne captured her second French Open title in June last year but more injuries and illness prevented her from adding to her collection of four Grand Slam titles.

Henin-Hardenne had not dropped a set in getting to the semi-finals with wins over Martina Hingis [Images] and Vera Dushevina and a walkover against Nadia Petrova but world number 14 Kuznetsova loomed as her biggest test.

The Russian was unbeaten in six singles matches this year and rapidly regaining her confidence after a prolonged slump following her breakthrough win at the 2004 US Open.

On Thursday, though, she had no answer to Henin-Hardenne's lethal backhand.

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