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EASTBOURNE (England), June 22: World number one Justine Henin brushed aside Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova to reach the semi-finals of the Eastbourne International grasscourt tournament on Thursday.
Henin, the defending champion at the Wimbledon warm-up event, won 6-2, 6-2 in 55 minutes.
Amelie Mauresmo, who will defend her Wimbledon title next week, recovered from a lapse of concentration to beat Israeli sixth seed Shahar Peer 6-3, 6-4.
In Friday's semi-finals, Mauresmo will play third seed Nadia Petrova who overcame a back problem and leg cramps in the heat to beat Austrian ninth seed Sybille Bammer 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 in a match that lasted just under three hours.
Fifth seed Vaidisova, the youngest player in the draw at 18 and an Australian Open semi-finalist in January, has a big serve but when that started to let her down she had no other weapons to use against Henin.
She found herself 5-0 down within 20 minutes, having held only one game point.
Vaidisova broke Henin as the Belgian top seed served for the first set at 5-1 but then surrendered her next serve to love.
Henin, who went 5-2 up in the second set, piled on the pressure as she watched Vaidisova's serve become more erratic.
Though the Czech saved one match point she soon gave Henin a second chance thanks to a double fault, then put a backhand into the net to concede the match.
French Open champion Henin will next play eighth seed Marion Bartoli of France who thrashed Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva 6-1, 6-0 in 71 minutes.
Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Quarter-finals: 2-Amelie Mauresmo (France) beat 6-Shahar Peer (Israel) 6-3, 6-4; 3-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat 9-Sybille Bammer (Austria) 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-4; 8-Marion Bartoli (France) beat 4-Elena Dementieva (Russia) 6-1, 6-0; 1-Justine Henin (Belgium) beat 5-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) 6-2, 6-2.
NOTTINGHAM (England): Croatian Ivo Karlovic was the only player to reach the semi-finals of the Nottingham Open with a 7-6, 7-5 victory over Argentine teenager Juan Martin Del Potro after rain disrupted play on Thursday.
The other matches will be completed on Friday, leaving the players including defending champion Richard Gasquet with the prospect of having to play twice.
Neither Karlovic nor Del Potro looked like breaking in the first set and both squandered several set points in the ensuing tiebreak.
The 2.08 metres Karlovic will next face the winner of the match between Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Russian second seed Dmitry Tursunov.
Their quarter-final was finely balanced at one set each with Garcia-Lopez 2-1 up in the third when play was called off for the day.
Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman was 1-0 ahead in the first set of his tie against France's Paul-Henri Mathieu while the two other Frenchman left in the tournament
AMSTERDAM, June 22: Ivan Ljubicic reached the semi-finals at the grass-court Den Bosch Open on Thursday, beating Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3.
Julien Benneteau of France also reached the last four at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament, defeating German qualifier Michael Berrer 7-6 (7-2), 7-5.
On the women's side, fourth-seeded Dinara Safina beat Flavia Pennetta 6-1, 7-5.
Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Men’s singles:
Quarter-finals: Peter Wessels (Netherlands) beat 1-Tommy Robredo (Spain) 6-3, 6-3; 2-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3; Julien Benneteau (France) beat Michael Berrer (Germany) 7-6 (7-2), 7-5.
Women’s singles:
Quarter-finals: 5-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat 2-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 6-3, 6-1; 3-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6-2, 6-2; 1-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat 8-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-1; 4-Dinara Safina (Russia) beat Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 6-1, 7-5.—Agencies
