Henin into last four

Justine Henin moved one step closer to another remarkable Belgian return when she advanced to the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

The 27-year-old ended the giant-killing run of Nadia Petrova 7-6 (7/3) 7-5 on Rod Laver Arena to become just the third women's wildcard entry to reach the last four of a grand slam.

The previous player to do so was Henin's countrywoman Kim Clijsters in September last year when she memorably returned from retirement, and becoming a mother, to win the US Open.

Henin is on course to replicate that performance less than four weeks after returning from her own 20-month retirement with only unseeded Chinese player Zheng Jie standing between her and the final.

After her win against Petrova, who had eliminated Clijsters and third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the previous two rounds, Henin admitted her run at Melbourne Park had exceeded her expectations.

"I remember my discussion with (coach) Carlos (Rodriguez) on the plane when we were flying to Australia we were talking about the goals - it's much more than what we expected," said Henin, who reached the final of her first tournament in Brisbane a fortnight ago.

"I was coming here to see a lot of things. I was curious about what I was going to feel on the court, but now I've won a lot of matches and everything is going well for us.

"I think I have improved a lot in this tournament since in Brisbane.

"I wasn't able to play well in the tough moments at first, but in the last few matches I have been able to.

"That is probably the most important thing."