Justine Henin has described her run to the final of the Australian Open as "more than a dream".

The 27-year-old Belgian is playing just her second tournament after calling an end to her 20-month retirement earlier this month.

Her return has been remarkable as she reached the final in Brisbane in her first event back before being handed a wild-card entry to the season-opening grand slam.

Without a seeding the seven-time major winner has had to progress through the draw the hard way but has still come through with flying colours to eliminate the likes of world number five Elena Dementieva, Yanina Wickmayer (16) and Nadia Petrova (19).

Her most difficult task looms, however, in tomorrow's showpiece when she must overcome the defending champion and world number one Serena Williams to complete a dream return.

"It's a special occasion, but I see it as an opportunity to play the number one player in the world in a grand slam final," she said.

"It's more than a dream for me. It's a perfect challenge and I love this kind of situation.

"I think it's going be a mental battle - the one who will want it more will win probably.

"She has served great in the last few matches, always on the important points. I know I'll have to be aggressive generally and use my qualities.

"And of course I have the determination and the ambition."

Remarkably it will be the first time Henin and Williams have met in a grand slam final despite sharing 18 major titles between them.

Williams leads their head-to-head record 7-6 and won their most recent meeting 6-2 6-0 in Miami just before Henin announced her shock retirement.

The Belgian does, however, hold the upper hand in grand slams having won their previous three meetings - all of which came in 2007 and at the quarter-final stages of the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.

"We had great battles in the past," Henin added.

"We played our best tennis when we played each other.

"At the beginning it was quite difficult for me to face Serena. Then slowly but surely I could change it a little more although the last time we played each other wasn't really good memories in Miami.

"What I hope is we are going to be at a very good level, both of us, so we can produce good tennis and the best will win."