Henin Thrilled to be Back at Dubai Tennis Championships
Dubai, UAE, February 19th, 2007: Three-time champion Justine Henin has enjoyed a busy few days at the Dubai Tennis Championships, and that’s without even getting on the court.
Not a real court, anyway. But she did take on third seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova on a mini-court set up in the desert in a replay of their 2006 French Open final.
And the top seeded Belgian also spent time with the media, during which she said how delighted she was to be back at one of her favourite tournaments.
“It’s a very special tournament for me,” she said. “Everything pretty much started here for me in 2003 when I won here. It was the beginning of an amazing adventure for me.
“I love to play here. The people love tennis and we can feel it. There’s a very nice atmosphere in the stadium and the competition is great. Sometimes you go to a tournament and it feels like home, and it’s the case for me here. You go on the court and it’s like your garden, almost.”
Kuznetsova was also busy. As well as playing her mini-match with Henin, she visited Deira International School to present competition winner tickets for the final to Halah Ashrass.
On court, Tunisia’s Selima Sfar had received a wild card into the tournament where last year she upset former top 10 star Vera Zvonareva. And she played a great match this year too, against Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama. The match could not have been closer, with Sugiyama fighting back from 1-4 to take the first set 6-4. Sfar then took the second 7-5, before Sugiyama sneaked the deciding set 6-3.
Former top-10 player Alicia Molik continued her comeback from an inner-ear virus by beating Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-3 6-4, and Maria Kirilenko, who dresses in tennis outfits designed by Stella McCartney, took just 66 minutes to overwhelm Romanian wild card Monica Niculescu 6-3 6-0. At one stage Kirilenko won 11 points in a row.
Two seeds were playing, and both were involved in dramatic matches. One, Na Li from China, had a match point against Eleni Daniilidou of Greece, but lost 6-7(5) 7-6(3) 6-3 after three hours and three minutes.
The other was Patty Schnyder, who needed nearly two and a half hours to overcome Francesca Schiavone of Italy. The Swiss left-hander came through 6-7(5) 6-3 6-3, and the win was welcome after she had suffered a couple of recent disappointing losses.
“I’ve had some struggles and it was really important to get through a tough one,” said Schnyder. “I had so many chances in the first set and didn’t do it. I’m really happy I got through.
“My serve was really good, and I was just staying in the match and fighting for every shot. That’s what you have to do when your confidence is not great. You have to hang in there and it will come back.”
The Dubai Tennis Championships is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and takes place under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Play in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event takes place at the Dubai Tennis Stadium from 19th to 24th February, and continues from 26th February to 3rd March with the ATP event featuring Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Marcos Baghdatis.
For further information: John Rynehart, Promoseven Sports Marketing,
(T) +9714 3210008; (M) +971 50 55 96795; john.rynehart@promoseven.com
