Henin Closes in on Antwerp Title

Only two of the original eight seeds advanced to Saturday’s semifinals at the Sportpaleis Antwerpen in Antwerp, Belgium as the week of upsets continued.

Top seed Justine Henin has appeared in the semifinals of Antwerp on two previous occasions, triumphing over Patty Schnyder on her way to a runner-up finish in 2002 and falling to fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters a year later.

Henin is competing in her 57th Sony Ericsson WTA Tour semifinal and she has won nearly three-quarters of these; she has also won her last six semifinals – last tasting defeat at the hands of Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon 2007.

Facing Henin for a place in Sunday’s final is tournament debutante Timea Bacsinszky.

Bacsinszky had to come through three rounds of qualifying just to take her place in the main draw and Daniela Hantuchova’s final set retirement with a respiratory illness sees the 18-year-old from Switzerland into her maiden Tour semifinal.

The other semifinal involves two more Antwerp debutantes, as No.9 seed Li Na takes on Karin Knapp in the evening session on Center Court.

Li’s reward for finally ending Swedish lucky loser Sofia Arvidsson’s run in Belgium is an 11th career semifinal; the Chinese star has won four of these encounters – most recently at Gold Coast in January, where she defeated Patty Schnyder before going on to capture her second career singles title.

Knapp’s surprise win over No.4 seed Patty Schnyder sees her advance to a fourth career semifinal; the 20-yearold Italian’s three previous ventures this deep into a Tour event came in 2007 and all three ended in defeat – on the clay courts of Budapest, Palermo and Bad Gastein.

The thrilling 62 67(1) 76(2) victory over world No.13 Schnyder was Knapp’s second career Top 20 win (the first coming against the then world No.17 Anna-Lena Groenefeld at Luxembourg in 2006).

RANK PROJECTIONS*
Justine Henin: Will remain at No.1 regardless of what conspires over the course of the weekend.
Li Na: With her semifinal run, projected to break back into the Top 30 at No.29 and could go as high as No.23 should she end the week as singles champion.
Karin Knapp: Is projected to reach a career-high ranking of No.40 thanks to her semifinal run; if she advances to the final she could reach No.36 or as high as No.33 if she lifts the title on Sunday.
Timea Bacsinszky: With her semifinal appearance, projected to reach a career-best ranking of No.60; if she emerges triumphant against Henin she is likely to break into the Top 50, reaching No.50 with a runner-up finish and No.43 by capturing the singles title.

*Projections only. Rankings not official until announced on Monday, February 18. (WTA)