Henin edges past Paszek

Players Under the Microscope / Editor / 22 February 2007 / Leave a Comment

Justine Henin admitted she was lucky to make it through to the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open after scraping past Tamira Paszek.

The top seed lost the first set but eventually turned the game on its head to win 4-6 7-5 6-1.
"I was pretty close to losing that. She played well, I wasn't very comfortable on the court and was far away from my best level," said Henin, who is now available at 1.14 to see off the unfancied Eleni Daniilidou in the next round and at 2.74 to go on and win the tournament.

Daniilidou of Greece took a mammoth two hours and 37 minutes to beat Ai Sugiyama 5-7 6-1 7-5.

Second seed Amelie Mauresmo (3.1 to win the tournament) wasted no time in booking her place in the third round after cruising past Vera Dushevina 6-2 6-2. Mauresmo will now face Daniela Hantuchova (42), who beat Maria Kirilenko.

Martina Hingis (8.2) was made to work for her 5-7 6-3 6-4 success over Anabel Medina Garrigues and she will now face fifth seed Jelena Jankovic (6.2), who went through in straight sets, 6-3 7-5, against Mara Santangelo.

Patty Schnyder (16) beat Alicia Molik to book her place in the last eight of the competition and will play third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova (11.5), after she ended Meghann Shaughnessy's hopes with a 6-1 7-6 win.