16 December 2005

Dubai: Top seed Marion Bartoli of France waltzed into the semifinals of the 7th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Emma Laine of Finland at the Habtoor Grand Resort and Spa last night.

Ranked No 40 on the WTA Tour, Bartoli will now meet Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia in the semifinals today.

"Though the score says otherwise, this match was far from easy," stated the top seed.

In the lower half of the draw, Jelena Kostanic entered the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-1 win against Kateryna Bondarenko.

She will meet the winner of the quarterfinal match between second seeded Lourdes Lino Dominguez and Kaia Kanepi, scheduled to be played later last night.

The top seed's win was the highlight of the evening though the scoreline looked very deceptive.

The Finland girl barely gave Bartoli any room to make mistakes. The French top seed was wary of this and kept the ball on her opponent's backhand rushing her into making unforced errors.

"I've played her three weeks ago and this is what I learnt. I knew I had to adopt a strategy and allow her to make the mistakes," Bartoli said later.

Bartoli breezed through the first set 6-1. But then , had to be cautious with every shot she made as Laine started hitting the ball really well.

Luckily for the top seed, her serve held out well and she could make the early dent in the second set with a break and hold of serve to lead 2-0.

"The match was far from easy and I knew that my superior serve would be crucial," Bartoli stated.

After that, the Geneva-based player bid her time for a second break on Laine's serve to go 5-2 up.

Playing with a heavily strapped right thigh, the left-handed Laine managed to scare her higher ranked opponent.

In the final game, Bartoli had reason to panic as Laine came back for a 40-15 lead on Bartoli's serve. But Bartoli had enough cards up her sleeve as she finished off the set and match 6-2 with a deep ace down the middle. "That was pretty confidence-boosting," Bartoli said.

Asked about her prospects against Nagyova in today's semifinals, Bartoli stayed non-committal. "I've played her once and beaten her in straight sets," she smiled.

"But that was three years ago," she quickly added.

"There can be so much that can change in a player's game in such a period of time."

The 7th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge is a $75,000 competition on the ITF's women's circuit.

The event is held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance and Industry.

The event is sponsored by HSBC Bank, Pepsi, PACC, AMC Advertising, HP and Nortel among others.

The finals will be held at the Habtoor Grand Resort and Spa tomorrow.

Results
Jelena Kostanic bt Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 6-1; Henrieta Nagyova bt Sandra Kleinova 1-6, 7-6 (2), 2-0 (retd.); Marion Bartoli bt Emma Laine 6-1, 6-2; Gabriela Navratilova/Hana Smorova bt Montinee Tangphong/Thassha Vitayaviroj 6-1, 7-6 (2).

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