Home favorite Justine Henin eased past Russian qualifier Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the WTA Diamond Games on Friday.
The world No. 1, who is playing for the final time in Belgium as the tournament ends its run due to a calendar change, was due to face off yesterday against another outsider in the shape of Timea Bacsinszky.
The Swiss qualifier progressed when third seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova pulled out of their quarter-final suffering from a heavy cold while trailing 6-2, 4-6, 4-1.
PHOTO: AFP
Top seed Henin reached a set and 5-2 against her opponent, only to drop serve while trying to close out victory. But she managed it a game later with a break-back to advance in front of a sell-out 13,000 crowd.
Henin is trying to win a title at home for the first time to add to her career total of 40 including seven Grand Slams.
"I didn't know much about my opponent before the match," Henin said. "But I knew it would not be easy."
"You don't get this far without playing well. I was able to improve from my first match and I'm so happy to be in the semi-finals at home," she said.
Henin last played in Belgium five years ago when she reached the semi-finals here.
This week is her first competition since going out in the Australian Open quarter-finals to Maria Sharapova which was her first loss since Wimbledon last summer.
Against Bacsinszky, Hantuchova was troubled by a cold which got steadily worse the more she tried to forget about it.
"I don't know why I waited until the third set to stop," Hantuchova said. "I can't believe I stayed out there for almost two hours."
Hantuchova said she was sick when she arrived in Antwerp and had been fighting illness for nearly a week.
"I thought it would get better, but out there today it only got worse. I could barely stand on the court and was tired after playing for five seconds," she said.
The win was the biggest in the career of the 94th-ranked, 18-year-old Bacinszky.
"I felt I played a solid match against the number eight," she said.
"I've been playing well this year and I want to maintain consistency. I came out of qualifying and had nothing to lose. Against Justine it will be the same," she said.
Bacinszky went into Friday's match having only once previously beaten a top 20 player and that was in Zurich in 2006 when she saw off former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina.
The second set of Friday's error-strewn match featured breaks in seven of ten games, with the Swiss earning a break early in the third before Hantuchova finally stopped.
Italian outsider Karin Knapp upset Swiss fourth seed Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-7 (1/7), 7-6 (7/2).
The 20-year-old, ranked 47th, was due to face Chinese ninth seed Li Na.
The 25 year-old Wuhan-born right-hander saw off Swedish lucky loser Sofia Arvidsson 7-5, 6-4, in the other semi-final.
Li is chasing her second WTA singles title of the year having won in Gold Coast, Australia, last month.
Jobe Bellingham on Tuesday admitted to having “anxieties” on following in brother Jude’s footsteps after joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Jobe Bellingham, 19, is two years younger than Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid in 2023 after three years at Dortmund. A centerpiece of the England national team, Jude Bellingham has emerged as one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. The younger Jobe Bellingham joined Dortmund in June from Sunderland after their promotion to the English Premier League. He admitted he understood what the perception would be ahead of the move to Germany. “It’s something you do think about.
Before Tuesday’s 7-2 win at the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested “most people couldn’t tell you five players on our team.” A look at the standings would indicate more Brewers players soon will be recognized by more fans. After all, it is difficult to overlook a team that not only continues to extend their lead in the National League Central, but also boasts the best record in the majors. “What we’re doing in here right now is special,” right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta said after allowing only four hits and one run in five innings, while setting a career high with
A baseball team from New Taipei City won the US Pony Palomino Division World Series yesterday in Laredo, Texas, defeating the US West representative team from Azusa, California, 2-1. Ku-Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School earned the right to represent Taiwan in the Pony Palomino (17 to 18 age group) World Series after winning this year's Wang Chen-chih Cup, a competition named after Taiwanese-Japanese baseball legend Wang Chen-chih (王貞治), also known as Sadaharu Oh. In the championship game against Azusa, Ku-Pao's starting pitcher Luo Yu-yan (羅于晏) was erratic early, giving up two hits in the bottom of the first inning, followed
NEXT ROUND: World No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka opened their title defenses with straight-sets wins, while Iga Swiatek and Taylor Fritz also advanced Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka got their title defenses off to smooth starts as they powered into the third round of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Saturday. The men’s and women’s top seeds, each ranked No. 1 in the world, were both competing for the first time since Wimbledon, where Sinner lifted the title and Sabalenka bowed out in the women’s semi-finals. Sinner crushed Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-1, 6-1 in steamy afternoon weather, while Sabalenka beat 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-1 under the lights of the night session. Sabalenka needed 54 minutes and a service break in the final game
RSS