DUBAI, 28 February 2004 — Top seed and defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne crushed American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-4, 6-2 to reach the Dubai Open final yesterday. The Belgian will next play Russian teen-ager Svetlana Kuznetsova, who followed up her victory over Venus Williams by beating fifth seed Ai Sugiyama 6-0 7-5.
Henin-Hardenne had to work hard as she was drawn into a battle of long rallies by the experienced Shaughnessy. The French, US and Australian Open champion served well and although her opponent rallied strongly she rarely did enough to win points and made too many unforced errors.
Just one break in the third game was enough to decide the opening set, though Shaughnessy was forced to fight off break points in her three other service games. In the second set Henin-Hardenne again broke to lead 2-1 by forcing a forehand error, and broke with a winning backhand return to lead 5-2.
“This gives me a lot of confidence,” said Henin-Hardenne after her 13th consecutive victory. “I need this kind of match right now because I’ve been sick. I needed to find my rhythm a little bit this week and I think that I’m getting better day after day. The 18-year-old Kuznetsova, who beat Williams in the quarterfinals, dropped just eight points as she breezed through the opening set in 17 minutes with some blistering forehands.
But the Russian failed to maintain her aggression and made unforced errors to allow Japanese fifth seed Sugiyama into the match. Sugiyama broke to lead 2-1 in the second set and it was not until the eighth game that the Russian leveled.
With the score at 6-5, Kuznetsova retrieved and returned a difficult ball on the baseline and forced a volley error from Sugiyama to earn two match points. “It was a bit tough this morning because I’d played three matches in a row and I was a little bit sleepy and just hoping to put the ball in play,” said Kuznetsova, who is chasing her third WTA singles title.
Hrbaty and Soderling Reach Marseille Semifinals
Dominik Hrbaty and Robin Soderling reached the semifinals of the Marseille Open after beating Max Mirnyi and Fernando Gonzalez, the fourth and fifth seeds respectively, in straight sets yesterday. Frenchman Arnaud Clement, the No. 7 seed who faces Spain’s Alberto Martin in the quarterfinals later, is now the only seed left in the tournament.
Slovakian Hrbaty won 6-3, 7-6 in one hour and 28 minutes, sealing victory over his Belarussian opponent on his fourth match point in the second set tiebreak. “The last game was pretty difficult because nobody made a single mistake until the final point,” said the 26-year-old, who has already won two titles in Adelaide and Auckland this year.
“I have had good results since the beginning of the year and I play with a lot of confidence”, added Hrbaty.
The 19-year-old Swede Soderling also faced a tiebreak before taking the first set but matched the power of Chile’s Gonzalez in the second to win 7-6, 6-4 in one hour and 24 minutes. “I was a bit lucky to get the first set because I had to save three break points. I also had to fight hard in the second to come back from 3-0 down,” he said.
The Swede, who jumped more than a 100 places in the ATP entry list last year and is ranked 57th, will now face home favorite Clement or Martin. Hrbaty will play Swiss Marc Rosset, winner of three titles in Marseille, or Swede Jonas Bjorkman, who ousted eighth-seeded Russian Marat Safin in the second round on Thursday.
Flu-Hit Williams Pulls Out of Qatar Open
Wimbledon champion Serena Williams has pulled out of the Qatar Open, which gets under way on Monday, after failing to fight off a bout of flu, it was reported in London.
In August she underwent an operation to her left knee that has kept her sidelined and Williams was due to make her comeback at the $600,000 event on Monday.
“I am really disappointed that I won’t be playing Doha,” she said. “I have been battling the ‘flu for several days and am not quite 100 percent well yet.” Despite the setback, Williams insisted her knee was “feeling great”.
“I feel I am back in championship form,” she said. “I’m anxious to resume playing and looking forward to getting back on court and seeing my fans.” Williams could attempt to make her comeback at the Pacific Life Open that begins at Indian Wells, California, on March 8.
