Zurich, Oct 19: Justine Henin-Hardenne overcame fatigue and the unseeded Russian Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-4 yesterday to reach the final of the 1.3-million dollar WTA tournament. Her opponent in Sunday's final will be unseeded Jelena Dokic.
Henin-Hardenne, who has withdrawn from an event in Austria next week because of exhaustion, was also troubled by inflamed tendons in her right knee, and several times pulled up sharply.
That, and her tiredness, was no doubt to blame for the second seed's lethargic performance. Her game rarely rose above the average, but Petrova was far too careless to take advantage.
Although the Russian ran well and showed a good forehand, she lacked patience and made many unforced errors instead of maintaining the rallies.
Both sets featured five breaks of serve as neither player was able to take control. Henin-Hardenne led 2-0 and then 5-2 in the first set before dropping her serve for a second time.



In the second set, Petrova broke for 2-0 when Henin-Hardenne double-faulted, but Petrova in turn double-faulted to drop her serve in the next game.



There were two further exchanges of serve until Henin-Hardenne broke again to lead 5-4 when Petrova struck yet another double-fault.


Bureau Report