A sensational performance from Francesca Schiavone ended Justine Henin's long unbeaten record at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Thursday.
The Italian played almost faultless tennis for most of a thrilling quarterfinal encounter with the top seeded Belgian. But she needed almost two and a half hours to record a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) upset over a determined defending champion.
Henin had never lost a match in Dubai – and was on a 17 match unbeaten streak here in a run of results stretching back as far as 2003.
But the four-time Dubai champion struggled to live with Schiavone today, who was crafting volleys and drop shot winners from all areas of the court – pressuring the usually reliable forehand of Henin into uncharacteristic errors.
The Serve Dominates
Neither player dropped serve in the opening set, a real rarity in women's tennis, but it was Henin who carved out the only break point opportunity. Her chance came in the fifth game but the Belgian blasted a forehand long and allowed Schiavone to escape.
Henin was to live to regret spurning the break opportunity as the first set tiebreaker rapidly slipped away from her grasp. After trading a minibreak each, Schiavone was able to reel off four points from five to close out a crucial first set.
Both players continued to hold serve as the second set got underway. However, this time it was Schiavone who saw a breakpoint slip away in the third game as Henin sent down an unstoppable ace.
But Schiavone was to get her break in the fifth game with some aggressive groundstrokes that Henin could not answer. The Italian then consolidated with a hold, before immediately breaking again to move 5-2 ahead with Henin's forehand going way long at another critical moment.
Henin Fightback
Henin didn't get to 17-0 in Dubai without showing plenty of heart and determination. And she wasn't about to leave here without applying some pressure of her own on Schiavone.
Schiavone got the predictable jitters and was broken to love as she attempted to serve out the match for the first time. Henin quickly followed up by holding her own serve, then fought off a match point in the tenth game – finally breaking Schiavone to level the set up at 5-5.
Game on, or game over? Most would have expected Henin to complete a remarkable recovery from here - snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. But that wasn't to be the story today.
Henin held another service game to make it four in-a-row. But Schiavone somehow dug deep and rediscovered the form that had put her into a commanding position - she held and forced us into another tiebreaker.
The Decisive Tiebreaker
Despite Henin coming through a long three hour battle with Katerina Srebotnik just yesterday, she was looking the fresher of the two players. If the Belgian could win the breaker, it looked almost certain she would extend her unbeaten run to eighteen matches.
Schiavone probably shared similar thoughts and played like her life depended on winning the second set tiebreaker.
After the pair traded mini-breaks early on, Henin moved 4-3 ahead with another point against the serve. But it was to be the last point she would win in the match.
Schiavone immediately clawed the mini-break back, then Henin served only her second double fault of the match to fall further behind.
This time Schiavone was not going to waste her opportunity to beat Henin for the first time in eight matches. She held both points on her own serve, reeling off four consecutive points, to completing a memorable victory over the World No. 1.
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