Henin and Mauresmo reach Eastbourne final

EASTBOURNE, England, June 22 (Reuters) World number one Justine Henin reached the final of the Eastbourne International grasscourt tournament with a swift 6-1 6-3 win over Marion Bartoli today.

In tomorrow's final, the Belgian will play world number four Amelie Mauresmo, last year's Wimbledon champion, who reached the final after her Russian semi-final opponent Nadia Petrova pulled out with injury after losing the first set 4-6.

Henin, Eastbourne defending champion and a favourite for Wimbledon which starts on Monday, was on Devonshire Park's Centre Court for barely an hour and made the victory look easy.

''It is perfect preparation for me,'' smiled Henin, who has won every grand slam title except Wimbledon.

Frenchwoman Bartoli, the eighth seed, has an unorthodox but impressive serve which she used to great effect in thrashing fourth seed Elena Dementieva in Friday's quarter-finals at the 600,000 dollars tournament.

It failed to rescue her against Henin, however, and Bartoli lost the first three games in rapid succession.

She held for 3-1 but was broken again in the sixth game as Henin spurred herself on with cries of ''Allez!'' Bartoli, the world number 20, produced a more solid serve at the start of the second set but put a forehand wide to allow Henin to go a break up for 4-3.

In the ninth game, Henin had two match points and though Bartoli saved the first with a service winner she hit another forehand error on the second.

Reuters TB DB1900