Henin finally loses in Dubai
Henin finally loses in Dubai 
From Richard Eaton in Dubai, UAE
Former Australian Captain February 29, 2008
WORLD number No.1 Justine Henin has finally lost in Dubai, after an unbeaten run of 17 matches, slumping to a 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4) defeat by Francesca Schiavone in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships quarter-finals.
Henin was previously undefeated in seven matches against Schiavone,but she was too inconsistent to deny the aggressive, in-form Italian.
The
errors were partly a result of Henin’s policy to take more risks to develop her attacking game, in the interests of her long-term physical wellbeing.
“She played well but I didn’t take my opportunities,” the Belgian said.
“I was not brave enough and she really took her chances and she was better than me.
“I didn’t go for winners enough. I had my chances to come back in the second set but I was too short.”
Henin said that her long late match against Srebotnik the night before had tired her, but she insisted that this was not an excuse.
“When I came back I didn’t do enough to win, and especially in the tiebreak I didn’t do enough,” she said.
“She came up to the net and I didn’t.”
Henin was below her best and Schiavone was inspired to attack brilliantly, sometimes getting to the net more effectively than the Belgian.
Henin appeared to have escaped from trouble when she recovered from 2-5 to 6-5 in the second set and earned the first mini-break in the tiebreak.
But she could not sustain the comeback, and she served a double fault after Schiavone had managed an audacious net charge to pull the leeway back.
This put Schiavone at 5-4, whereupon she won a baseline rally and closed out the match by hitting an inside out forehand drive winner to follow up a good first serve.
Schiavone said described the victory as the best win of her career, and that she had lost the 5-2 lead because “at that moment I didn’t push hard enough and she kept going”.
“She’s so strong,” the Italian said of Henin.
“Every point you have to beat her. Every point is a match point.
“At the end in the tiebreak, I said ‘you push now or you go home; it’s better you push now’ - and I did.”
Agence France-Presse