Henin Strolls, Dementieva Struggles at WTA Indian Wells

Justine Henin-Hardenne brushed past Argentina's Gisela Dulko 6-3, 6-2 Thursday to move into the semifinals, where she will be the favorite to advance into the final at the 2006 Pacific Life Open.

Henin-Hardenne was the 2004 winner of the event, but did not play last year due to injury.

In the semifinals Henin-Hardenne will face No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva, who keeps on double faulting, and keeps on winning.

Dementieva pitched in another 14 double faults in bouncing back from a rough first set to defeat Serb Ana Ivanovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. The Russian failed to close out the match on serve at 5-1, breaking in the next game to clinch the win.

"I'm a very slow starter," Dementieva told reporters. "I usually start to play better when I am in trouble and that's what happened today...I think I have to learn how to do it from the beginning of the match, so I can save some energy for the semifinal, for the final."

Dementieva is 13-3 this season with a title at Tokyo, but made a first-round exit at the Australian Open.

On court Friday are Hingis vs. Sharapova and Henin-Hardenne vs. Dementieva, and in doubles Raymond/Stosur vs. Benesova/Strycova, and Ruano Pascual/Shaughnessy vs. Daniilidou/Medina Garrigues.