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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 12:16 p.m., Thursday, February 14, 2008

Tennis: Henin advances in Diamond Games quarters

Associated Press

ANTWERP, Belgium — Top-ranked Justine Henin rallied from a set down to defeat Tsvetana Pironkova 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1 today and reach the quarterfinals of the Diamond Games.

Second-seeded Anna Chakvetadze was upset 6-3, 7-5 by Sofia Arvidsson.

Henin, playing her first match since her quarterfinal loss to Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open, looked rusty in the first set, handing it to 76th-ranked Pironkova on a double-fault.

Early in the second, she looked edgy before a crowd of 13,500 at the Sports Palace and trailed 3-1. Henin improved play for fans in her home country and won the next eight games.

"I had to fight. She had nothing to lose. I had to be scared to get through. The fans really helped me. I don't play often at home," Henin said after her first showing in Antwerp in five years.

In the quarterfinals on Friday, Henin will play qualifier Alisa Kleybanova, who upset Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.

Chakvetadze, ranked No. 6 after winning the Open Gaz de France on Sunday, was treated for back pain during a first set peppered with errors.

She rallied briefly in the second, but No. 66 Arvidsson broke serve and advanced to the quarterfinals.

Earlier, Timea Bacsinszky outlasted American Julie Ditty 7-5, 6-4, and qualifier Alisa Kleybanova upset Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.