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| February 24, 2007 | Saturday | Safar 6, 1428 |
Battling Henin reaches Dubai final
DUBAI, Feb 23: French Open champion Justine Henin produced her best performance since her comeback after her marriage breakdown, making a brave recovery from a set down to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi-finals of the Dubai Open.
Henin seemed mentally very uncertain in the early stages of a 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over the world number five from Russia, but turned it around spectacularly after squeezing out the second set, gaining a rush of confidence.
She then launched into a series of characteristically fluent ground strokes while Kuznetsova, who has now won only once in 14 attempts against the brilliant Belgian, seemed to realize she had missed a great opportunity, visibly drooping.
It earned the suffering Henin her first final of the year.
It also maintained an impressive unbeaten record in four appearances in Dubai by Henin, which now extends to 15 matches on the slowish hard courts in the Gulf warmth.
“I was nervous at the start,” said Henin. “I knew she was going to be in the court (taking it early) and putting me under pressure and I was a little nervous about that.
“I was not confident enough to start the match (well). But slowly in the second set I was feeling better. And then my attitude was good and in the third set it was different. I made better choices and hit more winners.
“It's only my second tournament back after a long time so it's not easy but it was very important to win, especially against a top five player.” In that pivotal second set Henin broke Kuznetsova's serve to lead 3-1 and then 4-1 with a little help from her opponent, who lapsed into errors. Then Kuznetsova played better and after getting back to 4-4 looked as though she might surge on to victory with her stridently aggressive game.
But Henin played a decent service game to reach 5-4, received a lot of crowd support, and returned serve well in a long tenth game.
Her forehand drive began doing more damage, and on her fourth set point she pressured Kuznetsova into over-hitting.
Asked how she achieved this change of attitude, Henin said: “I just tried on every point to stay very positive, to take more time and to get my serve in.
“I made some good choices, especially at 5-4, and returned well on really important points. I was better on the important points; that's the player I am. In the third set it's the best I have played since coming back,” she added. It was only her sixth match of 2007.”
Kuznetsova said: “It was kind of strange how I lost it. I started really well and ended up bad, and she was the opposite. I don't think either of us were in our best form.
“I didn't do enough with the ball in the third set. The key was in the second set when I broke back (moving from 1-4 to 4-4) and then I couldn't hold my serve.
Results from the Dubai Open women's singles:
Semifinal - Justine Henin (1), Belgium, def. Svetlana Kuznetsova (3), Russia, 1-6, 6-4, 6-0. —AFP
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