World No.1 Justine Henin's unbeaten run of 17 matches at the Dubai Open came to an end as she went down to a 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/4) quarter-final defeat to Francesca Schiavone on Thursday.
Henin had never lost in seven previous matches to Schiavone but despite having a point to break serve early on and making a brave late revival, she was too inconsistent to deny the Italian.
Henin was below her best and Schiavone was inspired to attack brilliantly, sometimes getting to the net more effectively than Henin.
Henin appeared to have escaped from trouble when she recovered from 2-5 to 6-5 in the second set and earned the first mini-break in the tie-break.
But she could not sustain the comeback, and after Schiavone managed an audacious net charge to pull the leeway back, Henin served a double fault.
This put Schiavone at 5-4, whereupon she won a baseline rally and closed out the match by hitting an inside out forehand drive winner to follow up a good first serve.
Schiavone said it was the best win of her career, and that she had lost the 5-2 lead because "at that moment I didn't push hard enough and she kept going."
Schiavone's semi-final will be against Elena Dementieva, the former world No. 4 from Russia, who overcame Ana Ivanovic, the Australian Open runner-up from Serbia, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
Earlier Amelie Mauresmo's dismal run of results continued as she lost 6-1, 7-6 to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Kuznetsova now plays Jelena Jankovic, the world No. 4 from Serbia, for a place in a final she reached four years ago.
Jankovic spent little more than little half an hour on court as, after winning the first set 6-1 against Anna Chakvetadze, the sixth-seeded Russian retired with a thigh injury.
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DAVENPORT WINS
AFP, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
Lindsay Davenport, playing on home soil for the first time since the 2006 US Open, breezed past Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-0, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the ATP/WTA Memphis tournament.
She needed just 53 minutes to dispatch Wozniacki on Thursday and reach the semi-finals where she will face Marina Erakovic, who beat Alla Kudryavtseva 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
A finalist here last year, Shahar Peer stayed on course for another final with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over seventh seed Sofia Arvidsson.
Next up for the Israeli is fifth seed Olga Govortsova, who claimed a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 triumph against German wild card Julia Goerges.
On the men's side Andy Roddick beat US compatriot Mardy Fish, 6-4, 6-2.
Sam Querrey was eliminated while Robin Soderling advanced.
Jonas Bjorkman outlasted Querrey, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4) to advance to the quarter-finals.
Big-serving Aussie Chris Guccione fired 15 aces and never lost a point on his first serve en route to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Thomas Johansson.
Fans got a chance to get a look at young American Donald Young who registered a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Colombian Alejandro Falla.
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