Williams went on to break to love to lead, 4-2.In the next game, with Williams serving at 15-0, the Belgian hit a shot over the baseline, and the American again shouted, “Out!” and drew a ring round the ball mark with her racket. As the crowd booed, Henin-Hardenne asked the umpire, Jorge Dias, of Portugal, to check the mark. He agreed that the ball had landed long and awarded Williams the point for 30-0.This fuelled the crowd’s hostility towards Williams, whose every error was cheered. The Belgian won the first point with a lob, the second with a service winner, and she also served well enough on the concluding two points for Williams to miss her returns.The 21-year-old American was in tears in the interview room afterwards. She said that Henin-Hardenne had played well and deserved to win, but that she was “a little disappointed” with the Belgian’s reaction to certain decisions “I didn’t make any calls The balls were out.”I’m not used to crying,” Williams said “It was a very tough crowd out there today Story of my life. All my life I’ve had to fight, and it’s just another fight I’ve got to learn to win I’ve got to be a little stronger next time I think it’s bad when people boo between serves. You’re not serving well, anyway, and then you miss your first serve and everybody’s booing, and then you slow your second serve too slow to get it in.

But it’s not the crowd’s fault I lost.”Asked if she thought there might have been an element of anti-Americanism, Williams said: “I don’t think that being American right now, with what’s going on between France and America, had anything to do with it. I just think they wanted the underdog to win.”Henin-Hardenne, who lost to Venus Williams in the Wimbledon final in 2001, said she was pleased to have received “such wonderful support” at Roland Garros. “Sometimes it could be a little bit too much, especially when she was missing her first serve,” the winner said “But these things happen in tennis. Maybe if I go to the States it will be the same for me.”The 19-year-old Clijsters advanced to her first Grand Slam final with a 7-5, 6-1 win against Nadia Petrova, of Russia, recovering her form after losing touch with her forehand in the opening set.* Greg Rusedski reached the Surbiton Trophy quarter-finals with a fluid display, beating Jean-Fran?s Bachelot, of France. Rusedski eliminated many of the problems he had suffered in his opening match in this 6-3 6-4 win, secured in an hour. He is joined in the quarter-finals by his fellow Briton, the national champion Alex Bogdanovic, who beat the Canadian Frederic Niemeyer 7-5 6-3..

Serena Williams, the Wimbledon champion, was in tears here yesterday after a partisan crowd booed her as she was knocked out of the French Open by Justine Henin-Hardenne, of Belgium. Henin-Hardenne won, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, to advance to meet her 19-year-old compatriot, Kim Clijsters. It will be the first all-Belgian final in Grand Slam history.”I don’t think being an American, with what’s going on between France and America right now, had anything to do with it,” Williams said “Sometimes people just want the underdog to win. It was a very tough crowd.”I think it’s bad when people start booing in between serves, or other people are egging them on by doing ridiculous things,” the 21-year-old added.Henin-Hardenne, who lost to Venus Williams at Wimbledon in 2001 in her only previous Grand Slam final, said she was pleased with the crowd’s support.