The Australian sixth seed will be bidding for his 21st singles title on Sunday when he faces French Open champion Ferrero, who brought defending champion Max Mirnyi's run to an end with a 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 win.
The Adelaide baseliner had never been beaten by the British number one in six previous encounters and soon made it seven.
Asked why he had such a good record against Henman, former world number one Hewitt said: "I've really got no idea. Maybe my game doesn't match up that well against him but I've played pretty well every time I've played against him."
| |||||||||||
However, the 29-year-old British number one, who had taken just two sets off Hewitt in their previous meetings, dropped his serve in the third game after whipping a forehand long.
He managed to win only four points on the Australian's serve before being broken for a second time to lose the set.
FOREHAND ERROR
Henman dumped a backhand volley into the net to hand Hewitt his first set point, which the former Wimbledon champion converted by forcing the fifth seed into a forehand error.
Three times a runner-up at the Dutch port city, Henman broke Hewitt in the first game of the second set but that was just a blip as Hewitt went on to level at 2-2 with a crosscourt winner.
Another break in the eighth game compounded Henman's dismal showing before Hewitt served out for victory after 71 minutes when the Briton sailed a backhand long.
"Whenever I play Lleyton, my biggest problem is that I play a little bit over aggressively and that produces the mistakes," said a disappointed Henman.
"I know the right way to play against Lleyton but my execution is not good enough and that's an exciting challenge for me to overcome."
Hewitt had entered the tournament only after changing his mind about watching his Belgian girlfriend Kim Clijsters compete in Antwerp this week.
HIGHLY-CHARGED
In the second semi-final, Spaniard Ferrero slayed Mirnyi in a highly-charged contest.
"I've never had to win three matches in a row on third-set tiebreaks before and winning like this gives me a lot of confidence," said an exhausted Ferrero. "I just hope I won't have to do it again tomorrow," he added with a smile.
Nicknamed 'The Beast', the towering Mirnyi captured his first singles crown at the Ahoy arena 12 months ago and showed his determination to hang on to the title.
He rattled the second seed with a series of blistering returns to earn three break points in the seventh game.
Ferrero served his way out of trouble on that occasion but was eventually no match for the Belarussian, who sealed the tiebreak 7-2 with a backhand crosscourt volley.
However, Ferrero refused to cave in and finally earned his opportunity in the eighth game of the second set.
A delectable volley brought the crowd to its feet and the 24-year-old converted his third break point of the game with a searing forehand before levelling the match at one set all.
In the third set, Ferrero broke in the fifth game but Mirnyi broke back with a spectacular forehand winner before collapsing with relief. His elation was short-lived, though, as just a few minutes later Ferrero won the tiebreak 7-4.
More from rediff