Henin struggles past Dechy at Paris Open

Second seed Justine Henin of Belgium saved two match points before beating wild card Nathalie Dechy 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (10-8) at the Paris Open indoor tournament on Thursday.

Fourth seed Jelena Dokic had a smoother ride, defeating Cristina Torrens Valero 6-3 6-2, while fifth seed Monica Seles recovered from a shaky start to beat Adriana Serra-Zanetti 7-5 6-2.

France's Dechy, ranked 45th in the world, surprised world number seven Henin with a series of searing volleys and powerful forehands from the baseline.

In the first set, Henin broke in the third game but Dechy immediately hit back and the players were level until the 19-year-old Belgian broke to lead 5-4 before taking the set. The games were hotly contested, with the first alone lasting more than 12 minutes.

Henin looked out of sorts in the second set, a string of unforced errors and double faults helping an inspired Dechy break twice to level the match.

The Belgian's poor streak lasted into the third set, in which she trailed 3-1, but she pumped herself up to draw level at 3-3 and from then on each point was hard-fought.

Dechy had two match points in the tie-break but Henin staved them off with lightning-quick returns before clinching victory on her third match point.

WORKMANLIKE PERFORMANCE

"I played a really good match so it's very disappointing," a tearful Dechy said. "Right now I'm finding it hard to see a positive side."

Henin, who described her performance as "workmanlike", said she was relieved to be in the quarter-finals.

"I've already lost matches after leading 6-2 in the tie-break," she said. "Today I won after saving two match points, so I'd say that mentally it's a positive experience for me to win a match like this.

"I take my hat off to Nathalie, who played a great match."

Seles was down 2-0 in the first set against qualifier Serra-Zanetti of Italy and she struggled to subdue a feisty opponent before taking the set.

But the world number 10 produced more speed and power in the second set, breaking the helpless Italian twice to wrap the match.

The American admitted she was still battling jetlag after a punishing start to the year.

"My body was still in Tokyo not in Paris," she said. "It's hard, especially after four weeks in Australia, one week in Japan, just two days here."

Seles will meet Henin in the quarter-finals.

"She had a tough match today against Nathalie and I'm sure it's going to be no different tomorrow," Seles said.

MOUNTING AGGRESSION

Earlier, world number nine Dokic had little trouble in seeing off Torrens Valero.

The Yugoslav, who lost her first match of the year last week in the Pan Pacific Open to Anne Kremer, needed just 42 minutes to dispose of her Spanish opponent, who is ranked 30th in the world.

"She's in the top 30 so to beat her that comfortably has given me confidence," Dokic said.

"It felt much better than the first match (against Kremer). I kept my concentration. I just kept playing, which I didn't do last week," she added.

The 18-year-old, who has said she needed to build up her strength to compete with the big hitters at the top of the game, seemed to turn up the power as the match progressed, hitting the ball with increasing aggression.

She kept up the pressure to move 5-1 ahead in the second set before wrapping the match with a superb volley into the corner.

In the first set, the players held serve until Dokic broke to lead 5-3 and she sealed the set with a clinical drop-shot.

"The serve was my main concern," Dokic said. "The way I served today, if I can serve like that in every match I'll be happy."

Earlier reports:
Mauresmo overpowers Kournikova in Paris