SYDNEY, Jan 11: World number one Justine Henin captured her 40th career title and strengthened her Australian Open claims with a quality three-set victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Sydney International on Friday.

The tenacious Belgian fought back from dropping the opening set to down her closest ranking rival, the second-seeded Russian, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in 2 hours, 18 minutes.

It was Henin’s third Sydney title, having won here previously against Amelie Mauresmo in 2004 and Francesca Schiavone in 2006, and stretched her winning streak to 28 matches.

Henin’s last defeat was her shock semi-final loss to Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon back in July.

The win, coming just days before the start of the Australian Open in Melbourne, also extended Henin’s advantage over Kuznetsova to 16-2 in career match-ups.

Henin has now won all her six WTA finals against the world number two.

Henin’s victory came despite struggling on her serve with nine double-faults and three service breaks. But she rose to Kuznetsova’s challenge and played her best tennis deep in the final set, breaking the Russian’s serve twice to surge home.

Henin was hesitant on her serve and was broken in the fourth game of the opening set but hit back, breaking Kuznetsova to love in the seventh game.

The top seed again had trouble on serve and a double-fault brought up two set points. She saved one with a rasping cross-court forehand volley but then netted a backhand to hand the Russian the opening set in 42 minutes.

Henin hit back straight away, breaking the second seed in the opening game of the second set and again in the seventh game, levelling the final after 80 minutes.

Henin’s service again came under pressure in the final set, dropping her opening service game to love and having a fight to hold on to her next one.

But she broke Kuznetsova to love in the fifth game and hit some great forehands to level at 3-3.

Henin fought off two break points on her service in the eighth game before breaking Kuznetsova with a terrific low forehand. She served out for the match, winning when Kuznetsova’s forehand went long.

Meanwhile, big-serving Australian Chris Guccione powered through to the men’s final of the Sydney International, setting up a weekend clash with Russian Dmitry Tursunov.

Guccione, ranked 125, finished the stronger in the sapping heat on Friday to down the 32nd-ranked Czech Radek Stepanek, 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4 in just under two hours.He will play in his second ATP final against 35th-ranked Tursunov, who outlasted veteran Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) in 1hr 42min.

Santoro is the third Frenchman Tursunov has beaten to reach Saturday’s final after wins over top seed Richard Gasquet and Sebastien Grosjean.

Tursunov is bidding to become the first Russian since Wimbledon champion Alex Metreveli in 1972 to win the Sydney title.

Results (x denotes seeding):

Men’s:

Semi-finals: Chris Guccione (AUS) bt Radek Stepanek (CZE) 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4; Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) bt Fabrice Santoro (FRA) 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).

Women’s:

Final: Justine Henin (BEL x1) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x2) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

WIN BY DEFAULT