Top seed Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium saved a
match point and rallied for a 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 victory Saturday over American
Monica Seles to capture the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Henin-Hardenne trailed 4-5 in the second set and 30-40 before rallying against
the former world number one.
Seles also had a 5-4 lead in the final set before Henin-Hardenne won the last
three games to claim her first title of the year and seventh of her career.
"It was a great victory for me today after saving a match point and then
breaking back when Monica was serving for the match in the third,"
Henin-Hardenne said.
"All I was thinking was that I needed to stay tough and remain focused."
The match lasted two hours, 46 minutes.
"I have to hand it to Justine because she didn't get tight when I had that
match point," Seles said.
"She was really going for it and she was just too good today. I don't think I
was too cautious when I was up 5-4 in the second set, or even when I served for
the match.
"Justine earned the points and she deserves to win the title."
It was the Belgian's first final appearance of 2003 and she collected 93,000
US dollars.
"It gives me such a big amount of confidence to win a match like this against
a great player like Monica," added Henin-Hardenne, who has played in the
semi-finals in all four events she has participated in this year.
Seles also lost in the final of the Pan Pacific Open to countrywoman Lindsay
Davenport in Tokyo on February 2.
Seles has played in 85 WTA Tour singles finals, winning 53 titles.
She fell to 4-2 lifetime against Henin-Hardenne, with the Belgian winning the
last two encounters.
"This has been a very good week for me," Seles added. "I come away with
very happy memories."
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