Third seed Justine Henin-Hardenne won the battle of Belgium, beating fellow countrywoman Kim Clijsters 3-6 6-2 6-3 in the final of the $1 million Acura Classic on Sunday.

Justine Henin-hardenne [L] and Kim Clijsters.

Eclipsing her taller opponent with a fine display of returning and aggressive play inside the baseline, Henin-Hardenne overcame a shaky start to land her fifth title of the year and her first hardcourt crown on US soil.

"She's become a lot better and stronger," world number two Clijsters told reporters.

"Last year she was struggling with that and when you hit a strong ball she had a hard time keeping up with it. Now she goes for a lot of her shots, that's where she's made the biggest change in her tennis."

Henin-Hardenne went into the contest with a 6-8 career record against Clijsters and had only beaten her once on hard courts in five attempts. But here her beefed-up serve, powerful forehand and endurance shown through.

Clijsters raced into a 4-0 lead in the first set behind a big serve and searing groundstrokes before Henin-Hardenne broke back in the fifth game when her opponent missed a forehand passing shot.

But Clijsters was strong on her own service games and won the set with a vicious crosscourt forehand winner.

MEDICAL TIMEOUT

Henin-Hardenne took a medical timeout in between sets to treat a blister on her right foot and the minute she took the court for the second set, the tide turned. Clijsters was not pleased.

"I'm sort of getting used to it," said Clijsters. "She's done it in every match I've played against her.

"It's a matter of knowing if she's doing it for an injury or another reason. It didn't look like it was hurting because she was still running.

"Those are moments that she's not feeling her best and she has to try to do different things. It's to her credit that she can turn matches around like that."

A refreshed Henin-Hardenne raced ahead in the second set, going 4-0 up by ripping three successive return of serve winners. Clijsters broke in the next game only to see Henin-Hardenne break back again after a double fault.

The pair fought tooth and nail in the third set in exhausting end-to-end rallies until Clijsters netted a forehand to allow Henin-Hardenne to break serve in the eighth game.

"I ran out of gas in the second and third sets. I was a little tired," said Clijsters, who won the Bank of the West Classic title at nearby Stanford last week and is also in the doubles final here.

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