La belga Justine Henin logró su victoria Nº 500 en el circuito WTA, al vencer a la rusa Alisa Kleybanova por 3-6, 6-4 y 6-2. Ahora, habrá duelo de belgas en octavos de final, ya que Henin medirá a Wickmayer.
AUSTRALIA.- La ex número uno del mundo Justine Henin continuó ayer con su regreso dorado al circuito de tenis profesional, recuperándose cuando estaba un set abajo, para alcanzar la victoria número 500 de su carrera, y pasar a la cuarta ronda del Abierto de Australia.
La tenista belga, quien está en pleno retorno a las competencias, tras un retiro de 18 meses, venció a la rusa Alisa Kleybanova por 3-6, 6-4 y 6-2.
“La cabeza está bien, pero el cuerpo está luchando por recuperarse”, dijo la tenista belga.
Su próximo duelo será contra otra belga, Yanina Wickmayer, por un lugar en los cuartos de final. Wickmayer venció a la italiana Sara Errani por 6-1, 6-7 y 6-3 en su encuentro de tercera ronda.
La rusa Nadia Petrova, 19 favorita, infligió a la belga Kim Clijsters, campeona del Abierto de Estados Unidos y 15 cabeza de serie, una de las derrotas más hirientes de su carrera, al vencerla hoy por 6-0 y 6-1 en la tercera ronda del Abierto de Australia.
En sólo 52 minutos, y ganando los once primeros juegos del partido, Petrova apartó de su camino a Clijsters.
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Justine Henin continued her fairytale return to competitive tennis by coming from a set down to register her 500th career win and reach the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday.
Justine Henin had to show all of her battling qualities to keep her bid for a grand slam title on track at the Australian Open. The wildcard entry fought back from a set down against the 27th seed, Alisa Kleybanova, to progress to the last 16 with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory in two hours and 20 minutes.
Henin, who has just returned from retirement, lost the opening set in 36 minutes and looked to be on her way out when she was down 3-1 and at 15-40 on her serve in the second set. The seven-time grand slam champion showed her class, however, as she responded to the danger by holding serve and then immediately breaking the Kleybanova serve.
Henin had been subdued as she struggled from the baseline for the opening hour-and-a-half of the match, but she suddenly found her groove. A signature ripped backhand across court brought a cry of "allez" from the Belgian to underline her growing confidence and she broke for a second time to claim the set when Kleybanova double faulted.
The 20-year-old Russian was broken again at the start of the third set to allow Henin to open a 3-0 lead. Kleybanova was not prepared to give up without a fight and broke back only for Henin to claim back the advantage immediately and make it 4-2. That served to finally snuff out Kleybanova's brave resistance as Henin won the next two games and wrap up the 500th win of her career.
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