DUBAI: French Open champion Justine Henin produced her best performance since her comeback to the Tour after her marriage broke down, to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals of the Dubai Open.

Henin seemed mentally very uncertain in the early stages of a 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over the world number five from Russia, but turned it around spectacularly after squeezing out the second set, gaining a rush of confidence.

She then launched into a series of characteristically fluent groundstrokes while Kuznetsova seemed to realise she had missed a great opportunity. It earned Henin her first final of the year.

"I was nervous at the start," said Henin. "I knew she was going to be in the court (taking it early) and putting me under pressure and I was a little nervous about that.

"I was not confident enough to start the match (well). But slowly in the second set I was feeling better. And then my attitude was good and in the third set it was different. I made better choices and hit more winners.

"It's only my second tournament back after a long time so it's not easy but it was very important to win, especially against a top five player."

Paes-Damm survive

Leander Paes and Martin Damm advanced to the semifinals of the ABN Amro World Tennis tournament in Rotterdam beating De Bakker and Ljubicic 6-7, 6-4, 10-6 in a hard-fought quarterfinal on Thursday.

In singles, Mikhail Youzhny continued his quiet progress at the ATP Rotterdam Open on Friday as he beat sixth seed David Ferrer of Spain 6-2, 7-5 to reach the semifinals.

"My level is about the same as last week," David Ferrer said. "There are many things in my game that I can improve, even playing as well as I am now."

On Thursday, Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic muscled his way past Belgium little man Olivier Rochus on Thursday with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win to reach the quarterfinals. Top-seed Davydenko also joined him in the last eight with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Marc Gicquel.

Roddick advances

At Memphis, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray on Thursday advanced to the quarterfinals in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships. Roddick beat German Benjamin Becker, 7-6(4), 6-4 while Murray beat Dane Kristian Pless 6-3, 7-6(4).

The top seeded Roddick and the third-seeded British teenager are one win away from a rematch from a week ago.

Murray beat Roddick in the semifinals at San Jose last weekend en route to winning the title.

Important results:

At Dubai (WTA Dubai Open): Singles: Semifinals: Justine Henin bt Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-6, 6-4, 6-0; Quarterfinals: Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-4;

At Rotterdam (ATP ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament): Quarterfinals: Mikhail Youzhny bt David Ferrer 6-2, 7-5; Second round: Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Radek Stepanek 7-6(12), 7-6(6); Tommy Robredo bt Rik de Voest 6-0, 6-4; Nikolay Davydenko bt Marc Gicquel 6-3, 6-3; Mikhail Youzhny bt Robin Haase 6-2, 6-4; Florian Mayer bt Dennis Van Scheppingen 7-5, 6-2; Ivan Ljubicic bt Olivier Rochus 6-3, 7-6(4).

Doubles: Quarterfinals: Martin Damm/Leander Paes bt De Bakker/Ivan Ljubicic 6-7, 6-4, 10-6; Andrei Pavel/Alexander Waske bt Robin Haase/Igor Sijsling 6-3, 6-3; Daniele Bracciali/Petr Pala bt Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor 6-4, 2-6, 11-9.

At Memphis (ATP Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & WTA Cellular South Cup): Men: Second round: Andy Roddick bt Benjamin Becker, 7-6(4), 6-4; Mardy Fish bt Juan Martin Del Porto 6-1, 7-6(7); Lu Yen-Hsun bt Jurgen Melzer 7-6(2), 1-1, retired; Tommy Haas bt Amer Delic 7-6(2), 7-6(5); Sam Querrey bt Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4; Andy Murray bt Kristian Pless 6-3, 7-6(4).

Women: Quarterfinals: Venus Williams bt Laura Granville 7-6(2), 6-4; Ioana Raluca Olaru bt Samantha Stosur 5-1, retired; Meilen Tu bt Sofia Arvidsson 6-0, 6-2; Shahar Peer bt Bethanie Mattek 6-0, 6-3.

At Bogota (WTA Tour Copa Colsanitas): Second round: Tathiana Garbin bt Jorgelina Cravero 6-3, 6-0; Lourdes Dominguez bt Greta Arn 6-4, 6-3; Flavia Pennetta bt Mariana Duque 7-6(7), 6-2; Barbora Zahlavova Strycova bt Hana Sromova 6-4, 6-3.

At Buenos Aires (ATP Copa Telmex): Round-robin: Nicolas Almagro bt Stefano Galvani 6-4, 7-6 (2); Juan Ignacio Chela bt Igor Andreev 3-6, 7-5, 6-3; Albert Montanes bt Flavio Saretta 6-3, 6-3; Juan Carlos Ferrero bt Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 6-3. — Agencies

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