(AFP) – Feb 28, 2008

DUBAI (AFP) — World number one Justine Henin's unbeaten run of 17 matches at the Dubai Open came to an end as she went down to a 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/4) quarter-final defeat to Francesca Schiavone on Thursday.

Henin had never lost in seven previous matches to Schiavone but despite having a point to break serve early on and making a brave late revival, she was too inconsistent to deny her aggressive, in-form Italian.

Partly this was Henin's determined policy to take more risks to develop her attacking game, in the interests of her long-term physical well-being.

Henin had said she hoped, after making an escape from trouble on Wednesday against Katarina Srebotnik, that this would be another new beginning for her.

Last year she won the Dubai Open after separating from her husband and went on to win nine other titles, and now she is trying to recover from a knee problem and emotionally tiring family rapprochements.

"She played well but I didn't take my opportunities," said Henin.

"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 agreed that her long late match against Srebotnik the night before had tired her, but insisted that this was not an excuse.

"When I came back I didn't do enough to win and especially in the tie-break I didn't do enough. She came up to the net and I didn't."

She was below her best and Schiavone was inspired to attack brilliantly, sometimes getting to the net more effectively than Henin.

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 tie-break.

But she could not sustain the comeback, and after Schiavone managed an audacious net charge to pull the leeway back, Henin served a double fault.

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 it was 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. Every point you have to beat her. Every point is a match point.

"At the end in the tie-break I said 'you push now or you go home; it's better you push now' - and I did."

Schiavone's semi-final will be against Elena Dementieva, the former world number four from Russia, who overcame Ana Ivanovic, the Australian Open runner-up from Serbia, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

Ivanovic, the third seed, almost did not compete this week after injuring her ankle and withdrawing from Doha only seven days ago. Playing with the injury strapped, she let slip a final set break of serve against an opponent she has yet to overcome in three meetings.

Earlier Amelie Mauresmo's dismal run of results continued as she lost 6-1, 7-6 to Svetlana Kuznetsova, the second-seeded Russian, which means that the former world number one from France still has not won three succesive matches since losing her Wimbledon title eight months ago.

"I started to play better in the second set and there were times when I played some good tennis," said Mauresmo, trying to make the best of another disappointing performance.

Kuznetsova now plays Jelena Jankovic, the world number four from Serbia, for a place in a final she reached four years ago.

Jankovic spent little more than little half an hour on court as, after winning the first set 6-1 against Anna Chakvetadze, the sixth-seeded Russian retired with a thigh injury.

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