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After a Rocky Start, Henin Cruises PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Erin Bruehl   
Wednesday, 29 August 2007
HeninThrough much of the first set in the second round match between Justine Henin and Tsvetana Pironkova at the 2007 US Open, the reason for the disparity in their world rankings was not apparent. However, while Pironkova made Henin fight for the first set, the Belgian stepped up her game and cruised through the second to win in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0 in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Henin, the No. 1 seed from Belgium, will have been the top player in the world for 81 weeks this year by the end of the US Open. In comparison, Pironkova is an unseeded qualifier from Bulgaria in this tournament and holds a ranking of 130th in the world.

Pironkova came out seemingly unafraid of facing the world No.1, being aggressive early with an especially strong forehand. Henin did not display her usual power and precision early and uncharacteristically missed some shots. After opening the first set with a break in the first game, Henin allowed Pironkova to immediately break her back in the second game. The set stayed on serve until the ninth game when Henin finally scored another break on a crosscourt winner to go up 5-4. She held her serve on a 109 mph ace to close out the set.

“You need to be focused," said Henin in explaining her rocky start. "At the beginning of the match I wasn't aggressive enough. I wasn't probably ready to fight hard in the first few games of the match, and it was 4-All. You need to be very careful all the time."

Henin struggled with her first serves, converting just 52 percent of them in the match compared to 54 percent for Pironkova. But the world No. 1 pulled it together in the second set, needing just 27 minutes to close out the match, putting Pironkova more on the defensive with her hard groundstrokes around the court and she also approached the net more and won 14 of 24 net approaches for the match.

For the match, Henin finished with just 11 unforced errors to 22 winners to just 10 winners for Pironkova.

Henin, the 2003 US Open champion and 2007 champion at Roland Garros, will next face Russia's Ekaterina Makarova, who defeated Ai Sugiyama in three sets earlier in the day.

     Henin has six career Grand Slam titles, the second-most amongst active players.
-     Henin has won six titles so far in 2007.
-     This is Pironkova's second appearance at the US Open.
-     Pironkova is the top ranked Bulgarian on the WTA Tour as of August 27.
http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/match_reports/2007-08-29/200708291188428591734.html
 
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