2006 PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

SF

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE v ELENA DEMENTIEVA

2-6, 7-5, 7-5

Elena Dementieva rallied from the brink of defeat to upset Justine Henin-Hardenne to set up an all-Russian final with Maria Sharapova.
Henin-Hardenne appeared set to finish a routine victory when she served for the match at, 6-2, 5-2, after about an hour.

But the top seed lost her serve, and failed again trying to close it out at 5-4.
After losing five straight games to drop the set and some confidence, Henin-Hardenne had her right knee strapped.
The match went back and forth with both players losing their serves several times in the final set.

Whether due to injury or nerves, Henin could not straighten out her game, and Dementieva continued her steady baseline

game to force the Belgian into hitting an error.

Dementieva's combination of solid groundstrokes and jittery serve can produce some chaotic and quixotic tennis.  One has to

be impressed with her mental toughness to continually fight back after her serve gets broken.

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