From the ashes of one dying Grand Slam dream another flickered to life.

Justine Henin, playing her first Centre Court match at Wimbledon, finally put an end to the four straight Major ambitions of American Jennifer Capriati.

Henin, bouncing back from defeat by her Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters in the French Open semi-final three weeks ago, lost the first set 6-2 in a frightening 21 minutes before a mesmerising two set comeback to win 6-4, 6-2.

It is the first time a Belgian has reached a Wimbledon women's singles final and is only Henin's second visit to the championships, having been defeated here last year in the first round by Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.

Henin showed everything observers had been talking about since the 19-year-old battled through the earlier rounds. An initial flakey serve was soon corrected and the backhand that so many people had been admiring began to find it's range, occasionally quite magnificently exploding from the dark corners off the court.

For Capriati there were no doleful if-onlys, no sign of the monosyllabic responses the vanquished here have almost perfected.

"Everyone was making a big deal out of the Grand Slam but me," said Capriati. "I just put it all in perspective, that it's really not a big deal to lose a tennis match. There's a lot worse things that could happen. I've had a lot more losses in different ways than this tennis match."

For Henin tomorrow's final against Venus Williams represents her own emergence from personal difficulties. Estranged from her father Jose since the Australian Open this year and her mother Francoise deceased, Henin currently lives on her own. Not surprisingly she is an exceptionally strong minded player.

That mental strength was required when at 6-2 and 2-1 down in the second set she asked for the trainer to come on to try to alleviate some of the pain foot blisters were causing.

"Yeah, on my right foot, really painful," said Henin. "It's horrible, I couldn't move at the beginning. It's not dangerous but it's sore. I said to myself I'm in the semis, go and try. Don't feel the pain."

The short break evidently gave her time to reassemble her thoughts and when she returned, it was the waspish, stinging Henin of the earlier rounds.

Henin held serve for 2-2, broke Capriati for 3-2, was broken for 3-3 then broke again for 4-3 using a cunning amalgam of drop shots, heavy slicing and volleys. Sensibly Capriati then made Henin's diamond back hand side unavailable so the teenager employed her equally destructive forehand.

"Capriati played so well at the beginning you don't think you can win the match," said Henin. "After that I came back because I stayed very, very cool. It was mental today, my victory. Yeah, mentally I'm stronger than in Paris."

In the third set Henin then raced to 4-0 as people expected a Capriati resurgence. It didn't arrive despite the exhortations from the guest's box from her father and coach Stefano.

Remaining unperturbed by a rain break, which could have broken the younger player's momentum, Henin continued with her mixed bag and unlikely winners leaving Capriati only scraps. One point in the opening first three games of the third set proved to be the 25-year-old American's undoing as Henin proceeded to win it 6-2.