Justine Henin continued her preparations for the US Open with a quarter-final victory over Nadia Petrova in Toronto on Friday.
World number one eyes 35th career title
Justine Henin continued her preparations for the US Open with a quarter-final victory over Nadia Petrova in Toronto on Friday.
The world number one, playing in her first tournament since her surprising semi-final exit at Wimbledon, beat the Russian 7-6 6-3 in testing conditions at the Rexhall Centre.
Henin battled against gusting winds that buffeted players all day to seal her 11th win in 13 meetings with sixth-seed Petrova.
She said: "I can tell you it was terrible out there. Here the wind turns all the time.
"I can tell you it's hard to play good tennis. It's tough, very tough."
Third
The top-seeded Belgian will face Chinese qualifier Yan Zi in the semi-final of the 1.34 million dollar hard-court tournament
Ranked 169 in the world, Yan became only the third Chinese player to reach the semi-final of a WTA Tier I event after Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli retired with the flu when trailing 6-2 3-0.
At the other end of the draw number two seed Jelena Jankovic booked her place in the last four with a win over 7-5, 6-2 over Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano.
The Serbian, looking for her fifth title of the year, will face Tatiana Golovin, also of France, who toppled third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6 7-5 6-1 for her place in the semi-final.
Difficulties
Jancovic also said that the blustery conditions made playing difficult.
She said: "Today was the strongest (winds) I have ever experienced.
"I was struggling with my serve because the winds were very strong... I was struggling to put it in the box.
"I was frustrated but just tried to stay positive."
"We were, you know, both struggling a little bit because with this kind of windy conditions, the balls are not going quite where you want them to go.
"And especially in the serve, when you toss the ball, you have a little bit of difficulties," she said.
"My main focus was on the movement, to really move my feet and try to get behind the ball the best as possible, and really be focused out there.
"Watch the ball carefully because it's moving everywhere, so you really have to be focused. And you cannot let your concentration go down."
