Top seed Justine Henin breezed into the quarter-finals of the
1.34 million US dollar WTA Qatar Open on Wednesday with a 6-2, 7-6
(11/9) victory over Australian Alicia Molik.
The second seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia also moved into
the last eight stage of the event, beating Germany's Julia Goerges
7-5, 6-1, while Swiss Patty Schnyder ousted Spain's Anabel Medina
Garrigues 6-3, 6-4.
Henin, bidding for back-to-back titles in the Gulf after her win
in Dubai last week, overcame a period of uncertainty in the second
set to beat Molik for the fifth consecutive time.
In five meetings between them, Molik has taken just one set off
Henin and that came at Miami in 2005.
On Wednesday, though, the Australian held two set points in the
second set tie-break but couldn't prevent the World No. 2 from
clawing back and clinching the match, equaling at 8-8 and then
again at 9-9.
Molik made crucial errors on her serve when she put the ball
into the net to give the Belgian a 10-9 advantage and Henin
exploited a weak approach for a passing shot to win the match and
set up a quarter-final clash with Schnyder.
Henin said the windy condition on the court affected her
play.
"It's not easy to play good tennis when the wind is blowing so
hard. You can't be sure where the ball is going," said the Belgian,
who also had words of praise for Molik."
(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2007)