Story ProgressBack to home
Henins seeks fourth Dubai title
Justine Henin will seek her fourth Dubai Women's Open title on Saturday when she plays 2005 champion Amelie Mauresmo in the final.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: March 22, 2007 06:37 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Dubai:
Justine Henin will seek her fourth Dubai Women's Open title on Saturday when she plays 2005 champion Amelie Mauresmo in the final. In Friday's semifinals, top-seeded Henin beat third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 for the third time in tournament history, and second-seeded Mauresmo led 6-2 when fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia retired with an ankle injury. Henin was undefeated in Dubai after capturing titles in 2003, 2004 and 2006. Mauresmo will be playing for her second title in two weeks, after winning in Antwerp, Belgium. "I will have to play a little bit as I did tonight," Mauresmo said. "I have to be aggressive and try to take control of the game, which is never easy against Justine." They are 6-6 in matchups. Henin won the last meeting, in the WTA Championships final. Henin appeared cautious in losing the first set then regained her composure to lead 4-1 in the second. Kuznetsova rallied to draw even but Henin won the last two games to force a third set. Henin swept it in 28 minutes with powerful forehands. "I was just waiting, not moving forward at all," Henin said. "And she was hitting the ball really hard. But at the end of the match, it was another player on the court." Kuznetsova, who lost to Henin in the 2004 final, said she had trouble with her concentration. "(Henin) played unbelievable shots towards the end," she said. "I think I got a little tired mentally because I did not have much attention on the ball." Mauresmo's match was interrupted when a cat got onto the court and Jankovic stopped playing. Mauresmo also forced the intervention of referee Alan Mills while protesting at the umpire for getting the score wrong in the seventh game. The score was changed from 30-30 to 40-15 to Mauresmo. In the next game, Jankovic made an athletic attempt to return a backhand and sprained her ankle. She retired soon after. "Strange match, really," Mauresmo said, "though I didn't see the cat."Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis Andy Roddick Lukas Dlouhy Rohan Bopanna Leander Paes Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi Maria Sharapova
Get the Latest IPL 2024 Updates, check out IPL 2024 schedules and IPL points table at NDTV Sports.Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more sports updates. You can also download the NDTV Cricket app for Android or iOS.