Henin to face Kuznetsova in Dubai
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Kuznetsova took the first set in 17 minutes.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Reuters) -- Top seed and defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne crushed American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-4 6-2 to reach the Dubai Open final.
The Belgian will next play Russian teen-ager Svetlana Kuznetsova, who followed up her victory over Venus Williams by beating fifth seed Ai Sugiyama 6-0 7-5.
Henin-Hardenne had to work hard as she was drawn into a battle of long rallies by the experienced Shaughnessy.
The French, U.S. and Australian Open champion served well and although her opponent rallied strongly she rarely did enough to win points and made too many unforced errors.
Just one break in the third game was enough to decide the opening set, though Shaughnessy was forced to fight off break points in her three other service games.
I the second set Henin-Hardenne again broke to lead 2-1 by forcing a forehand error, and broke with a winning backhand return to lead 5-2.
This gives me a lot of confidence," said Henin-Hardenne after her 13th consecutive victory.
"I need this kind of match right now because I've been sick. I needed to find my rhythm a little bit this week and I think that I'm getting better day after day.
The 18-year-old Kuznetsova, who beat Williams in the quarterfinals, dropped just eight points as she breezed through the opening set in 17 minutes with some blistering forehands.
But the Russian failed to maintain her aggression and made unforced errors to allow Japanese fifth seed Sugiyama into the match.
Sugiyama broke to lead 2-1 in the second set and it was not until the eighth game that the Russian leveled.
With the score at 6-5, Kuznetsova retrieved and returned a difficult ball on the baseline and forced a volley error from Sugiyama to earn two match points.
"It was a bit tough this morning because I'd played three matches in a row and I was a little bit sleepy and just hoping to put the ball in play," said Kuznetsova, who is chasing her third WTA singles title.
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