Henin Spanks Kuznetsova for Tour-leading Third 2004 Title at WTA Dubai

Posted on March 1, 2004

Justine Henin-Hardenne is making the most of the Williams sisters absence from the WTA Tour. The world No. 1 successfully defended her title at Dubai Saturday, beating unseeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6(3), 6-3 for her third title on the year.

"I just kept fighting. I lost concentration a couple of times, throughout the match and I lost my aggression. This was a little bit negative but I took back control," Henin-Hardenne said. "I'm very happy to come back and defend my title here, especially as I was so sick last week." It is three titles in three tournament appearances in 2004 for Henin-Hardenne, who is 14-0 on the season. Without countrywoman Kim Clijsters or the Williams sisters in the draw, this result was a foregone conclusion at the beginning of the week. Not a lot of depth these days on the WTA Tour.

Kuznetsova was a two-time loser on the day, in the doubles final with Russian compatriot Elena Likhovtseva falling to Husarova/Martinez 6-0, 1-6, 6-3, who won their first title as a team.

In the Bogota semifinal Saturday, top-seeded Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga staged a stunning comeback, leaving herself one match away from a third consecutive Bogota title, beating unseeded Slovak Lubomira Kurhajcova 6-2, 0-6, 7-6(4). In the final she will face, in a first-time meeting, No. 2 seed Maria Sanchez Lorenzo of Spain, who beat back No. 3 Emilie Loit 7-5, 6-2. In the doubles final, the Austrian/German pair of Barabara "Use the" Schwartz and Jasmin Woehr beat Spaniards Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues and Arantxa "Not That Arantxa" Parra 6-1, 6-3 for their first title as a team.

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
The ATP stop in Marseille got its all-unseeded nightmare final Saturday when Swedish comer Robin Soderling reached his second career final (0-1 in finals) by ousting homecrowd favorite and No. 7 seed Arnaud Clement, and Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty beat Jonas Bjorkman.

"I played a good match tactically," said Soderling, offering up the book on Clement. "I knew that Arnaud likes it when you hit hard so I slowed down the pace. Maybe it wasn't my best match so far.  I served well as I did in the previous three matches but I was surprised how easy it was as I expected a much tougher match."

Soderling reached his first ATP final last year in his hometown of Stockholm, losing to American Mardy Fish 7-6 in third. Hrbaty has won a tour-leading 16 matches this year, and will be shooting for his third title of 2004. "Tomorrow it will be a very different match," The Dominator said of the first-time meeting. "Robin plays a very fast game and hits the ball very hard and I haven't played any player of this kind this year yet. I will have to hold my serve like the last two matches and try to get one break that in indoor tournaments is usually enough." Hold your serve, good tactic.

The doubles final will be a quality affair in 2002 year-end No. 1s Knowles/Nestor vs. Czech expletive-sounding veterans Damm/Suk.

At Costa Do Sauipe Saturday the singles final was postponed with former champ and Brazil favorite Gustavo Kuerten leading Argentina's Agustin Calleri 3-6, 6-2, 1-0, on serve, when the rains came. Calleri won the first set easily but Guga rode the home crowd support to take the second set before the match has halted for the day, to be finished Sunday.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Tennis writer Matthew Cronin on Serena Williams: "The limelight lover has been accompanied at Wimbledon by Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, has just formed a fashion design company and owns one of the most stylistic games ever seen." Since when is brute baseline pounding "stylistic"?...The WTA Tour signed a commercial partnership with Dubai Duty Free, establishing the airport retailer as a sponsor of the tour?s "Rest of World" region. Nice region name, nice "airport retailer" tag, nice take-what-we-can-get sponsorships...Swedes Joachim Johansson and Robin Soderling grew up playing together and sharing the same coach. Give that man whoever he is a raise...Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo has pulled from Doha (back injury), joining Serena Williams (flu) on the pull list. Since Serena will skip Indian Wells as she has done every year since the infamous "booing incident," it means you won't see her for three weeks until Miami...Greg Rusedski is expecting to wait at least another week before hearing whether he has been cleared of a doping offence after testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone last July, his agent said on Saturday, according to Reuters...Martina Hingis on the Williams sisters: "People ask me about a comeback, but look at Venus. I don't want to end up like that even if I was healthy. The train is moving fast. Venus hasn't shown anything right now. What makes them strong is if they're (playing at the same time) together, but for one alone it's difficult." What are they Martina, conjoined twins?