May 14, 2007	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1428

BERLIN, May 13: Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova edged out world No 1 Justine Henin 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in their delayed German Open semi-final on Sunday, setting up a showdown against Serbian 12th seed Ana Ivanovic later in the day.

Henin and the third seeded Kuznetsova had begun their match on Saturday but play was suspended with the Belgian top seed serving at 2-3 in the deciding set as darkness fell over the Steffi Graf Stadium.

Henin, who begins the defence of her French Open title at the end of the month, served her seventh double fault of the match to gift Kuznetsova a match point at 4-5 and then put a backhand wide to see her hopes of a fourth Berlin title dashed.

Henin told a news conference it had been a very demanding week in Berlin, with numerous interruptions for rain and poor light, blustery conditions and slippery courts.

Kuznetsova, the world No 4 and a former US Open champion, had only beaten Henin once in 15 previous meetings.

She served for the match at 5-3 in the second set on Saturday but Henin clung on to force a deciding set. The Belgian had come back from the brink of defeat earlier on Saturday to beat Serbia's Jelena Jankovic in their delayed quarter-final.

Ivanovic, 19, reached her first final on clay on Saturday when unseeded Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko withdrew from their semi-final because of a hand injury with the Serb leading 4-3.

Kuznetsova has never played Ivanovic on clay but has won both their previous meetings, including a straight-sets victory on the hard court at Sydney last year.

If the Russian wins in Berlin, it would be her first title on clay in five years.

The French Open, where Henin has won three of her five Grand Slam titles, begins at Roland Garros in Paris on May 27.

Henin said on Sunday she would be taking two weeks off to rest and train and would miss next week's event in Rome.

Results:

Semi-finals: 3-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat 1-Justine Henin (Belgium) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4; 12-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Julia Vakulenko (Ukraine) 4-3 – Vakulenko retired;

Quarter-final: Henin beat 5-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

ROME MASTERS

ROME: Rafael Nadal survived one of the toughest battles in his long claycourt winning streak, edging Nikolay Davydenko 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the Rome Masters final.

The world No 2 battled for more than 3-1/2 hours to chalk up his 76th successive victory on clay and will be aiming to capture his 13th consecutive title on the surface when he faces Fernando Gonzalez on Sunday.

Should he defeat the Chilean, Nadal will equal Thomas Muster's professional era record of a hat-trick of Rome victories.

Sixth seed Gonzalez ended the home crowd's hopes by sweeping aside wildcard Filippo Volandri 6-1, 6-2.

Nadal was not expected to be stretched by the fourth-seeded Russian, who was knocked out by a qualifier in the first round of the claycourt event in Estoril last week.

The second seed began in familiar fashion, drilling a forehand down the line at the end of a long rally to take the first point on his way to breaking Davydenko in the opening game.

The 20-year-old Nadal failed to keep up the momentum, making a double-fault and then hoisting a backhand wide as the Russian broke back.

Davydenko recovered from a break down three times in the first set. He even held a set point as Nadal served to level at 6-6 but netted a simple pass after chasing down a poor drop shot by his opponent.

Four successive forehand errors at the start of the tiebreak gave Nadal the lead he needed to close out the set in 75 minutes.

The players again exchanged breaks at the start of the second set which also went to a tiebreak after both players dropped serve in set-winning positions.

This time Davydenko was more adventurous and aimed for the lines to create a series of set points. Nadal fended off five of them but the contest went into a deciding set when he drifted a forehand over the baseline.

Nadal broke in the ninth game of the decider, firing a forehand winner and then taking advantage of two unforced errors to clinch victory.

Gonzalez's win over Volandri was more straightforward.

World No 53 Volandri had eliminated three seeds, including world No 1 Roger Federer, to become the first Italian to reach the last four in Rome since Adriano Panatta in 1978.

He failed to reproduce that form and succumbed under a barrage of heavy groundstrokes unleashed by the Chilean.

Gonzalez beat Nadal on his way to reaching the Australian Open final this year.

Results:

Semi-finals: 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat 4-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (8-10), 6-4; 6-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) beat Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-1, 6-2.—Reuters