Henin-Hardenne Vs. Petrova in Berlin Final Rematch - 網球

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Henin-Hardenne Vs. Petrova in Berlin Final Rematch

BERLIN, Germany - There will be a championship rematch at the Qatar Telecom
German Open this year, after Justine Henin-Hardenne and Nadia Petrova
steamrolled their respective semifinal opponents Saturday on the slow red
clay of the LTTC Rot-Weiss in Berlin, Germany.

Henin-Hardenne, seeded No.3 this week, notched her 20th consecutive victory
at the Tier I event with a 61 62 demolition of top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo in
what was considered by many to be the marquee match-up of the day. The
23-year-old Belgian dominated play from all areas of the court, dropping a
total of just eight points on serve and breaking the Frenchwoman's delivery
six times during the lopsided, 58-minute match. In the end, she won more than
twice as many points as her bewildered opponent and edged ahead 5-4 in their
career head-to-head series.

"It's the best tennis I have played in a long time," Henin-Hardenne stated.
"I was very confident today in the rallies and had a lot of patience, which
paid off. It's always a surprise to win these kinds of matches so easily but
I took it step by step because you can never think it's easy, you have to win
every single point."

Henin-Hardenne is now 24-1 lifetime at the prestigious $1,340,000 event,
winning titles in 2002, 2003 and last year. Her only loss in Berlin came in
2001, when she beat Venus Williams en route to the semifinals before being
forced to retire due to injury in the third set against Jennifer Capriati. In
2003 and 2005, the feisty Belgian went on to win the Roland Garros title.

"I have for sure had good matches in preparation for Roland Garros which
shows me where I am."

Mauresmo, currently ranked No.1 in the world, had finished off a
darkness-delayed quarterfinal match against former No.1 Martina Hingis
earlier in the day. On Friday the pair split sets before the match was called
due to poor light. First up on Steffi Graf Stadium on Saturday they completed
their match, with Mauresmo prevailing, 46 64 64.

"I didn't have the best schedule with having to play one set this morning and
then my semifinal, but that's the way it goes and you have to adjust," said
Mauresmo, who is also a former titlist here, winning in 2001 and 2004.
"Justine played very well today so all the credit to her."

Henin-Hardenne has a tough task ahead with Petrova, seeded No.2 at this
event, who annihilated surprise unseeded semifinalist Li Na of China, 61 60.
The 23-year-old Russian needed only 50 minutes to completely dominate Li, who
had taken out No.4 seed Patty Schnyder the round earlier.

Petrova is arguably one of the hottest players on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour
at the moment, particularly on clay. The 23-year-old Russian rides a 14-match
win streak into Sunday's final, having swept the American clay court swing in
April (winning titles at Amelia Island and Charleston) and winning four
rounds here. She recently made her career Top 5 debut, coming into this event
ranked No.4 in the world. Should she win the title, she could rise up to
No.3, passing Maria Sharapova to become the Russian No.1.

"I'm really looking forward to tomorrow," Petrova said. "It will be a great
final. I'm really comfortable out there and have being playing very
consistent for some months now which gives me a lot of confidence."

The two finalists have played each other nine times previously, with
Henin-Hardenne leading that series 8-1. The Belgian leads 4-0 on clay, but
two of those matches have gone the distance, a 63 46 63 victory in the final
here last year and a 67(2) 64 63 win in Fed Cup action last month. She
doesn't take the Russian lightly, however.

"Tomorrow will be a tough match. Petrova is one of the best players on clay.
She has proven that she is the one in confidence right now."

The doubles final will also be contested Sunday, pitting reigning Australian
Open doubles champions Zi Yan and Zheng Jie against 2005 US Open finalists
Elena Dementieva and Flavia Pennetta. In Saturday's semis, No.3 seeds Yan and
Zheng destroyed unseeded pair Dinara Safina and Roberta Vinci 62 60, while
No.5 seeds Dementieva and Pennetta beat No.4 seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and
Petrova, 63 63.

The Qatar Telecom Open is in its 27th year as a Tour stop. This year, the
centre court was named after German tennis legend Steffi Graf, who won nine
titles here between 1986 and 1996.

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