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Veteran Henin Leads Youth Movement into Rogers Cup Semis

August 17, 2007 - World No. 1 Justine Henin had fans on their feet yet again on Friday night at the Rexall Centre. The 25-year old Belgian put forth a masterful performance in disposing of sixth-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 7-6(4), 6-2 to advance to the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tier I event.

Facing unseasonably cold temperatures and brisk winds, Henin adjusted her game to the difficult conditions and consistently had her opponent in retrieval mode in a match whose duration stood at just under two hours.

“I really needed a few games to get into the match,” Henin commented in her post-match interview. “But I'm very happy because I could stay calm and patient and just try to do my job the best I could in these conditions.  But I can tell you it was terrible out there.”

In the semifinals, Henin will face the Cinderella story of this year’s tournament in China’s Zi Yan who earned her first career berth in a Tour semifinal when she defeated seventh-seeded Marion Bartoli after the Frenchwoman was forced to retire in the second set of their quarter-final match due to illness. The 22-year old qualifier has stunned several of the world’s top players this week including a second round rout of defending Rogers Cup champion, Serbian Ana Ivanovic.

In the other half of the draw it will be second-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and twelfth-seeded Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin will be vying for a spot in the championship on Saturday. Jankovic made quick work of France’s Virginie Razzano 7-5, 6-2 in her quarter-final encounter while Golovin came out on top in a tough three set battle with Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the first match of the day on centre court.  

“I was telling myself, you need to play smart you're not going to be able to overpower her, you're making mistakes, it's windy,” Golovin remarked. “So you just need to get the ball in, make her make the mistake and run everywhere and be strong mentally, and that's what happened.”

 In doubles action, the top-seeded pair of Cara Black and Liezel Huber will be part of the final four after taking care if Stephanie Foretz and Selima Sfar 6-1, 6-4 in Friday’s night cap. The duo will now battle Nathalie Dechy and Tiantian Sun. The other semifinal match up will pit the second-seeded team of Ai Sugiyama and Katarina Srebotnik against Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo.

Saturday’s play will begin at 1:00 pm with the first singles semifinal followed by a doubles final four encounter with a repeat line up for the evening session.

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