Henin-Hardenne Dialed In

Belgium’s Justine Henin-Hardenne took the German Open title Sunday, stretching her win streak to 17 matches with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Russia’s Nadia Petrova in a women’s tennis final interrupted three times because of rain.

The former top-ranked player claimed her third consecutive title on clay and established herself as the favorite for the French Open, which starts in two weeks.

“I know everybody is going to talk to me about that -- the French Open is very special to me. I did my best there, I did my worst,” said Henin-Hardenne, referring to her championship in 2003 and two other early exits.

Henin-Hardenne, seeded 12th, continued a comeback from a virus and an injured knee, lifting her overall record to 20-1 since returning in March.

After play had been stopped because of rain with the Belgian ahead, 5-3, 30-0 in the final set, Henin-Hardenne returned to the court and blasted two hard winners that the sixth-seeded Russian, who will move up to ninth in the rankings this week, couldn’t touch.

“They were probably the two most important shots of the match,” said Henin-Hardenne, who earned $189,000 for the title. “It was good to come through this. Because of the rain delays, the match was more mental then physical.”

Said Petrova, whose serve was broken for a 1-3 deficit in the last set: “From the first game of the third set, she started going for her shots.”