Amelie Mauresmo reached the Dubai Open final after Serbia's Jelena Jankovic retired through injury when trailing 6-2 on Friday.
The second seed will face holder Justine Henin, who overcame Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 to boost her record against the Russian to 13 wins in 14 meetings.
Mauresmo's match was full of incident. Play was first interrupted when a cat walked on to the court and then Greek umpire Eva Asderaki became confused with the score at 4-2.
The Frenchwoman summoned referee Alan Mills as the score was corrected from 30-30 to 40-15 in her favour.
In the following game, fifth seed Jankovic collapsed after injuring her left ankle going for a backhand.
She played five more points after treatment but conceded the match after dropping her serve.
"I was so scared I was shaking," Jankovic told reporters. "It was a shock for me.
"It was hurting really badly and right away it was swollen. The trainer put on some tape but it was so painful I couldn't serve or land on my foot."
Mauresmo felt she was on the way to victory anyway.
© Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
|