Henin downs Kuznetsova

Henin downs Kuznetsova

Doha The WTA Qatar Total Open proved to be second time unlucky for second seed and world number five Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova who lost in straight sets to top seed and world number two Belgium's Justine Henin 4-6, 2-6 at the final at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex on Saturday. This was second consecutive loss in the final for Kuznetsova. Last year, she lost to fellow Nadia Petrova, who didn't turn up this year to defend her title.
It was, moreover, Henin's second title in the Gulf in the space of one week. She, recently, won the Dubai Open after defeating Amelie Mauresmo in final.
This was the 14th time that Henin had defeated Kuznetsova during their 15 meetings. She now holds 14-1 record over Kuznetsova. Henin, recently, defeated Kuznetsova in the semi finals of the Dubai Open in a tough three-set match.
It was Kuznetsova who got going when she broke Henin's serve in the sixth game after leading 40-15, to make it 4-2. She, however, failed to press on to the advantage after Henin fought back gallantly to break her service game to make it 3-4. Henin served it perfectly to make it 4-all. The ninth game saw Kuznetsova battling to save her service game as she trailed 30-40. A controversial line call saw her failing to take the game to deuce. She finally conceded the game to Henin when she hit an unforced error on the net. Henin led 5-4.
At 30-all, a crosscourt forehand drive saw Kuznetsova just one point away from breaking Henin's service game. Henin, then, took the game to deuce after hitting a solid second serve. Henin saved two break points on deuce to clinch the set 6-4 in 37 minutes.
When asked what went wrong in the first set when she was leading 4-2, Kuznetsova said: "I have player her many times before, and again today I didn't play to my potential. I was far away from my natural game. She doesn't allow you too many good points. I lost some good points in the first set, and that's where she scored over me."
In the second set, Henin broke Kuznetsova's service game twice to clinch the set 6-2. For Kuznetsova, the set started off on a wrong note as she again victim of bad calling on her service game. She trailed 15-30, and then went on to lose the next two points to hand over 0-1 lead to Henin. She again broke Kuznetsova's serve in the fifth game and then retained her own serve to take a decisive 5-1 lead. Henin finally clinched the set 6-2.
When asked about her 10th successive loss to Henin, Kuznetsova remarked," I have tried everything, and have even improved my service and ground strokes. It, however, seems that I have started losing the battle in mind. Even, today, I was playing against myself than Henin."
Henin was awarded $222,000 and 275 WTA Sony Ericsson points for her win whereas Kuznetsova received $117,000 and 190 points.