Henin stops Sharapova for 25th title - 網球

http://www.eurosport.com/tennis/wta-dubai/2006/sport_sto840856.shtml

Henin stops Sharapova for 25th title

Eurosport - 25/02/2006

Justine Henin-Hardenne claimed her 25th career title, defeating third
seed Maria Sharapova 7-5 6-2 in the final of the Dubai Open. The 18-year-old
let slip her concentration for a wrong baseline call despite leading 5-3 in
the opening set.

The 18-year-old Russian's limitations were also exposed in the latter stages
when she lacked patience in the rallies and failed to build a winning
position.

Both players held easily in the first six games, each giving up just two
points on serve. But things changed dramatically after that with almost every
game being tightly contested.

Sharapova had to fight off two break points at 3-3, but then broke to lead
5-3 when she hit a drop shot so perfect that is caused her astonished
opponent to drop her racquet, and then mis-hit a backhand wide.

Henin-Hardenne, though, responded by denying Sharapova as she served for the
set and from 5-5 conceded just one more point.

Sharapova hit the ball long on break point when under no real pressure,
before the Belgian served out the set to love in exactly an hour.

Henin-Hardenne then broke to lead 3-2 in the second set when Sharapova netted
a forehand from the Belgian's fierce return.

Having moved exceptionally well throughout the match, Henin-Hardenne made it
count the most at 4-2 when she ran down a ball from Sharapova and made a
glorious backhand winner while on the run to earn a second break.

A dispirited Sharapova made one final effort to rescue the match, but
Henin-Hardenne held off two break points before claiming victory.

It was the fourth-seeded Belgian's third Dubai title and her second
tournament victory of the year after winning in Sydney and finishing as
runner-up at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

She also remains unbeaten in her 12 matches in Dubai after a high quality
match in which both players mixed up their game well and produced some very
competitive rallies.

Since her Birmingham victory last year, Sharapova had lost six straight
semi-finals, including those of Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian
Open, until her win over Lindsay Davenport on Friday put her into this final
Henin stops Sharapova for 25th title


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