Henin overcomes self-doubt to win US Open

NEW YORK, Sep 10 (Reuters) Justine Henin arrived at Flushing Meadows two weeks ago as the proud owner of six grand slam trophies and the holder of the world number one ranking.

Yet despite her top billing at the US Open, the Belgian doubted her own ability to hold aloft the famed silver Cup for a second time as she had not won a grand slam on any surface other than clay since January 2004.

She overcame her fears by slicing through the draw without dropping a set and completed her victory charge by demolishing a hapless Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1 6-3 in the final on Saturday.

''The instant you win it's a big, big joy at that time,'' Henin told Reuters in an interview yesterday as she relaxed in the players' lounge.

''There were a lot of things in my mind at the time. But 'I did it again in New York' was maybe the first thing I thought.

''I proved it to myself that I could do it again. It is a great feeling, it was a great challenge and I did it so I'm very proud.'' The win on Arthur Ashe court took her grand slam tally to four French Opens, two US Opens and one Australian Open.

However, it did not take the Belgian long to mull over the one gaping hole on her resume -- a Wimbledon title.

She has twice reached the final at the All England Club but the Belgian said in pure tennis terms, it was probably the toughest of the four majors for her to win.

''Wimbledon remains something I would love to achieve but I am still far away from that,'' said Henin.

''I don't trust myself that much on grass, like I do on clay and hard courts. I'm the kind of girl who needs rhythm.

''On grass it's difficult to have that. The French Open and Wimbledon are so close together that it's not a big advantage for me.

''But hopefully it will happen.'' 'LOVED IT' Since she cannot do anything about her lack of success in London for at least nine months, Henin was more keen to discuss her latest victory in New York.

Playing some of the best tennis of her life, the 25-year-old's win on Saturday lifted her to second, after Serena Williams, on the list of active women's grand slam winners.

Although she was in the most difficult half of the draw, she became the first player to beat both Serena and Venus Williams en route to winning a grand slam title.

''Even though I said it was going to be tough, I loved it,'' said the top seed, who became the first woman since Serena in 2002 to take the title without dropping a set.

''It was the best I could dream of. It's the kind of situation where you really know who you are, the limits you can reach. It was great. Beating Serena and Venus was really tough.'' After enjoying a ''pretty quiet'' celebration at a French restaurant in New York on Saturday night, Henin sorted through messages of congratulations from her family before finally getting back at around 2.30am local time.

''You start to realise what you did, you achieved, the sacrifices you made, and that's something that you keep. I'm very proud of that,'' said the Belgian, whose next scheduled stop on the WTA Sony Ericsson Tour is at the China Open in Beijing in just over a week.

REUTERS TB RN0604