Henin finds form in Dubai as Mauresmo toils

DUBAI, Feb 22 (Reuters) Top seed Justine Henin crushed Greece's Eleni Daniilidou 6-0 6-2 while number two Amelie Mauresmo struggled to a 6-3 3-6 6-4 victory over Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in the Dubai Open quarter-finals today.

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic put out fourth seed Martina Hingis 7-6 6-2 and third-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova eased past Swiss Patty Schnyder 6-3 6-4.

Henin took only 64 minutes to advance, Daniilidou offering the Belgian all the encouragement she needed by dropping her first two service games.

''I was pretty aggressive in the first few games and she probably felt it,'' Henin told reporters. ''I played a good match and felt very good on the court, very positive.

''Yesterday was the kind of match I really needed. It wasn't an easy one but today was another day and I was feeling much better.'' Henin needed two hours 28 minutes to beat 16-year-old Austrian qualifier Tamira Paszek 4-6 7-5 6-1 yesterday.

Mauresmo also took nearly 2 1/2 hours to overcome Hantuchova despite racing into a 5-1 lead in the opening set.

Hantuchova attacked more from the net to level matters in the second.

IN CONTROL Although she twice broke Mauresmo's serve in the third, she immediately surrendered her own. In the end the Slovak paid the price, conceding her serve again in the final game.

''I really felt I was in control of the match in the first set and then I fell asleep,'' said Mauresmo.

''I wasn't doing anything in the second set. Then I was able to, little by little in the third, get my rhythm going.'' Unfortunate scheduling meant Hingis finished a draining second-round match at 0130 before returning in the afternoon to face fifth seed Jankovic.

The Swiss blew a 4-2 lead in the opening set and could not turn the match around.

''The first set was key,'' said Hingis. ''In the tiebreak she just played some better shots and was more aggressive.'' Hingis was critical of the scheduling and supported an idea raised after similar problems during last month's Australian Open whereby matches could be suspended overnight if they are not completed by a reasonable time.

''I don't think it's very fair to the players,'' she said.

''Maybe there is a chance in the future they'll work on this.'' Reuters PDS RN0057