Henin reaches Eastbourne final
Saturday, 23 June 2007
Four-times French Open champion Justine Henin took just 59 minutes to beat Marion Bartoli 6-1 6-3 and reach the final of the Eastbourne International, reports BBC.
The Belgian top seed looked in great form a week before Wimbledon, breaking the Frenchwoman's serve four times during a one-sided encounter.
The defending champion will now play last year's Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo in the final Saturday.
Victory would give Henin her fifth title of the season.
The 25 year-old is seeded number one for Wimbledon and is set to play Argentine qualifier Jorgelina Cravero in the first round.
Mauresmo reached the final after her Russian semi-final opponent Nadia Petrova pulled out with injury after losing the first set 4-6.
Meantime, Ivo Karlovic was the only man to reach the semi-finals of the Nottingham Open Thursday with a win over Juan Martin del Potro after rain disrupted play.
The 6ft 10in Croatian fought back from three set points down in the first set tie-break before gaining the initiative in controversial circumstances.
Leading 11-10, his groundstroke was called long by the line judge only for the umpire to overrule and call a let.
Karlovic won the next point and eventually ran out a 7-6 7-5 winner.
The other matches will be completed on Friday, leaving the players, including defending champion Richard Gasquet, with the prospect of having to play twice.
Karlovic, the world number 61, took advantage with a fine passing shot beyond his 18-year-old opponent.
The second set went with serve until rain forced the players off level at 5-5.
Del Potro, ranked 55 in the world, was caught cold on resumption as Karlovic gained an immediate break before holding serve to clinch a place in the last four.
Karlovic will next play Russian second seed Dmitry Tursunov, who beat Tim Henman in the second round, or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez took the first set against Tursunov 6-4 but trailed 5-3 in the second when rain forced the players off.
Fourth seed Jonas Bjorkman, last year's runner-up, won the first game of his match against Paul-Henri Mathieu on serve before the pair had to leave the court.
Two-time defending champion Gasquet, who has never lost at Nottingham, was waiting to play fellow Frenchman Arnaud Clement in the day's final match.
The Belgian top seed looked in great form a week before Wimbledon, breaking the Frenchwoman's serve four times during a one-sided encounter.
The defending champion will now play last year's Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo in the final Saturday.
Victory would give Henin her fifth title of the season.
The 25 year-old is seeded number one for Wimbledon and is set to play Argentine qualifier Jorgelina Cravero in the first round.
Mauresmo reached the final after her Russian semi-final opponent Nadia Petrova pulled out with injury after losing the first set 4-6.
Meantime, Ivo Karlovic was the only man to reach the semi-finals of the Nottingham Open Thursday with a win over Juan Martin del Potro after rain disrupted play.
The 6ft 10in Croatian fought back from three set points down in the first set tie-break before gaining the initiative in controversial circumstances.
Leading 11-10, his groundstroke was called long by the line judge only for the umpire to overrule and call a let.
Karlovic won the next point and eventually ran out a 7-6 7-5 winner.
The other matches will be completed on Friday, leaving the players, including defending champion Richard Gasquet, with the prospect of having to play twice.
Karlovic, the world number 61, took advantage with a fine passing shot beyond his 18-year-old opponent.
The second set went with serve until rain forced the players off level at 5-5.
Del Potro, ranked 55 in the world, was caught cold on resumption as Karlovic gained an immediate break before holding serve to clinch a place in the last four.
Karlovic will next play Russian second seed Dmitry Tursunov, who beat Tim Henman in the second round, or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez took the first set against Tursunov 6-4 but trailed 5-3 in the second when rain forced the players off.
Fourth seed Jonas Bjorkman, last year's runner-up, won the first game of his match against Paul-Henri Mathieu on serve before the pair had to leave the court.
Two-time defending champion Gasquet, who has never lost at Nottingham, was waiting to play fellow Frenchman Arnaud Clement in the day's final match.