Henin leads charge at home event in Antwerp

Second seed Justine Henin moved into the semifinals of the $585,000 Antwerp Open with a 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 victory over sixth seed Magdalena Maleeva on Thursday.

The dynamic Belgian had to recover from a slow start before finding her range against the consistent Bulgarian, and then used her powerful arsenal to full effect in the second set on the indoor court in the Sportspaleis Antwerpen.

Henin had been 5-1 down in the opening set after some sloppy serving. But the world number nine recovered her composure, and brought her trademark backhand slice into play, to win five games in a row to take the tiebreak with ease.

"I gave myself a fright," Henin said. "I was nervous, and I knew I was facing a player who would put me under pressure. But mentally I told myself to play it cool. I changed my tactics and it worked."

Third seed Amelie Mauresmo also raced through in straight sets, but the Frenchwoman was a round behind Henin and strode into the quarter-finals.

Mauresmo reached the last eight of a tournament for the fourth time this year by posting a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Hungarian Zsofia Gubacsi.

She will face either Danish qualifier Eva Dryberg or Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.

Italian Silvia Farina Elia squeezed past Marie-Gaiane Mikaelian of Switzerland 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in a second-round match and meets top-seeded American Venus Williams in the quarters.

Schnyder advanced after fourth seed Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia was forced to retire due to a right thigh strain. Their second-round match was tied 4-6, 6-4, 1-1.