Amelie Mauresmo will play Justine Henin-Hardenne in Saturday's ladies' singles final at Wimbledon.

Mauresmo, the Australian Open champion, reached her first final in SW19 with a 6-3 3-6 6-2 victory over Maria Sharapova.

Henin-Hardenne had earlier recorded a 6-4 7-6 (7-4) win over fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters.

Playing in her fourth semi-final at the All England Club, Mauresmo started like a train in her much-anticipated clash with former winner Sharapova and raced through the first set with a flawless display which included just one unforced error.

When she had four points for a 4-1 second-set lead and blew them, her fans must have feared another collapse.

The world number one has become famous for losing from winning positions, but although Sharapova won five straight games to take the second set, this wasn't to be a match to be added to that list.

Instead Mauresmo rediscovered her earlier brilliance to race into a 4-0 lead in the decider.

Sharapova fought hard, breaking back once, but when she served to stay alive at 2-5, Mauresmo managed to wrap up a famous victory.

"I just hung in there and I kept fighting," declared Mauresmo.

"I could have in that third set probably let it go because of the mental [thing] - but it did not happen this way.

"I just felt it was not going to be this way this time.

"I was able to fight through it, so that was good."

Sharapova, meanwhile, was in defiant mood, saying she would learn and bounce back from her loss.

"Every loss teaches me a lot and there are a lot of things I must improve to beat the top players. I look forward to working on my weaknesses," she said.

"I need to be patient against top players and you have to take your opportunities against them. I had chances today but she'd come back with a good serve.

"I'll go back onto the practice courts and keep working until I get things right. This is not a setback.''

Earlier, Henin-Hardenne had proved the more consistent player in the Battle of the Belgians.

Clijsters, seeded one place higher at two, proved a poor front-runner - she led by a break of serve in both sets before slipping to defeat.

Serve dominated early on but Clijsters made the first move by breaking in game seven to lead 4-3.

However, having got in front her solid game crumbled and Henin-Hardenne reeled off three straight games to take the set.

In the second, Clijsters again secured the early break but her opponent levelled at 3-3.

When Clijsters broke through once more with a near-perfect return game in game 11, she was left serving for the set.

But she wasn't up to the task. Henin-Hardenne forced the tie-break and never looked like losing it as she secured her place in the final.

"It is more about the nerve than the tennis at this stage and I'm very pleased with the way I handled it," said Henin-Hardenne afterwards.

"There is no option but to be aggressive on grass because it's such a quick surface - but I'm getting better at it now. And I'm really happy to have another chance to win this title."

The French Open champion, a runner-up here in 2001, will complete a career Grand Slam if she wins Saturday's showdown.

Meanwhile Clijsters at least felt she had done herself justice.

She said: "I have been disappointed with the way I have played against her in previous matches - but this was my better tennis against her and that is the main thing I will take away as a positive."

In the delayed men's singles quarter-final, Rafael Nadal enjoyed a comfortable 6-3 6-4 6-4 win over Jarkko Nieminen, of Finland.

The second seed broke once in each set as he set up a last-four meeting with Marcos Baghdatis.

A delighted Nadal said: "It was very, very impressive for me.

"I was very emotional. One month ago I was playing on clay. I'm very happy to be in the semi-final, it's a dream for me.''

Finally, it was an emotional day for Wimbledon legend Martina Navratilova, who ended her SW19 career with two doubles defeats.

Navratilova had been hoping to win her 21st title at the All England Club - and thus move past Billie-Jean King with whom she currently holds the record of 20 - but suffered defeats in both the ladies' and mixed doubles on Thursday.