Henin ends Capriati's Grand Slam dream

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- Jennifer Capriati's Grand Slam hopes crumbled Thursday when her game fell apart on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

Justine Henin, a 19-year-old Belgian, survived Capriati's strong start and won 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach Saturday's final against either defending champion Venus Williams or 1999 winner Lindsay Davenport.

Henin, a semifinalist at last month's French Open, battered Capriati with strong backhands and effective volleys on a day when a shower stopped play briefly in the third set.

Capriati won the Australian Open on hardcourt and the French Open on clay. A championship on Wimbledon's grass would have given her the third of the four major titles, leaving only the U.S. Open starting in late August.

She said missing a Grand Slam sweep didn't disappoint her.

"Everyone was making a big deal of the Grand Slam but me," Capriati said. "So I'm just pretty happy with the way the year's gone so far. I mean, it's hard to win one Grand Slam."

Only three women and two men have won all those tournaments in the same year. Steffi Graf did it most recently, in 1988.

Henin made sure Capriati didn't do it this year.

Ranked ninth in the world, Henin overcame painful foot blisters to become the first person from her country to reach a Wimbledon final. She received treatment with Capriati ahead 2-1 in the second set, then won 11 of the remaining 15 games.

"Before that, I was doing well in the second set and I was still playing my game," said Capriati, ranked fourth in the world. "All of a sudden, a few games there late in the second set, she was on her game."

Henin was leading 4-1 in the third set when the court was covered during a light rain.

"I was a little bit afraid because she had the time to think what she's going to do," Henin said. They went to the clubhouse and returned to the sun-splashed court 16 minutes later.

Leading 5-2 in the third set, Henin just had to hold her serve to win. She took a quick 40-15 lead, double match point, and she lost the first one when she hit a forehand wide.

But her next serve was the last. The match ended and Henin exulted when Capriati hit a forehand from the baseline that sailed wide.

"It was a great comeback," Henin said. "I wasn't in the match at the beginning."