BRUSSELS Teenage tennis stars Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters have put the little European country on the sporting map by blasting their way through to the semi-finals of the French open women's singles.

Their match on Thursday ensures that Belgium will have a tennis grand slam finalist for the first time ever.

Previous Belgian sporting greats:-

Eddy Mercx: Arguably the greatest cyclist of all time. He dominated the most gruelling of sports in the 1970s, winning the Tour de France five times and clinching numerous classics.

Belgian football in the 1980s: The Red Devils reached the European championship final in 1980, only to lose to Germany. They then finished fourth in the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico.

Emile Puttemans and Ivo van Damme: Two top athletes of the 1970s. Puttemans was a middle-distance runner who excelled indoors setting 12 world records in his career, but Olympic gold escaped him. Van Damme won two silver medals at the Montreal Olympics, but died in a tragic accident. A annual memorial meeting is named after him.

Jacky Ickx: Versatile car driver between 1966-1985. Won Eight Formula One Grands Prix and was twice second in the world drivers championships in 1969 and 1970. He won two world endurance titles and Six Le Mans Classics. In 1983 he won the Paris to Dakar race.

Filip Dewulf: Unheralded tennis player, who as a qualifier made it all the way through to the semi-finals of the 1997 French Open where he lost to eventual winner Gustavo Kuerten.

Nelly Adamson-Landry: The 1948 French Open Women's Singles Champion was born in Belgium, but unfortunately married a Frenchman in 1937 and took French nationality, AFP reported.