Top seed Henin ousted in Dubai Championship tennis

Justine Henin of Belgium in action against Francesca Schiavone of Italy during day four of the WTA Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships at the Dubai Tennis Stadium on February 28, 2008 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

KUWAIT CITY, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- World number one Justine Henin had her 17-match winning streak snapped at the Dubai Championship tennis tournament on Thursday when she lost 7-6 (7-3) and 7-6 (7-4) to unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone in the quarter-finals.

The Belgian top seed made a number of unforced errors as her Italian opponent ran to chase every ball.

"She played well but I didn't take the opportunities and wasn't brave enough. She was better than me," said the four-time Dubai champion Henin.

Henin held just one break point in the first set at 2-2, but made a forehand error. And she was unable to earn another opportunity, losing the tiebreak 7-3.

Schiavone broke to lead 3-2 in the second set and again to lead5-2, but she twice failed to serve out the match, despite having a match point at 5-4. But Henin once more played a poor tiebreak, losing the last four points as Schiavone took it 7-4.

Schiavone said she wasn't aggressive enough when leading 5-2.

"At that moment I didn't push hard enough and she kept going because she's so strong," said Schiavone, whose only previous win over a world number one came against Amelie Mauresmo in the Fed Cup.

"To beat Justine you have to play very good, at a high level, and I did today. I think for me it is my best win."

Schiavone will next play eighth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, who scored a 5-7, 6-3 and 6-3 win over third seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the semi-finals after beating France's Amelie Mauresmo 6-1 and 7-6, and will play fourth-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic who had the easiest of victories when sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze retired with an injury after losing the opening set 6-1.