Justine Henin showed she still had some way to go in her comeback to professional tennis when she sneaked past Melinda Czink of Hungary in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Thursday.
Czink saved five match points in the third set but couldn't save a sixth as Henin won an intriguing contest 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) in two hours, 21 minutes.
Henin, playing her first tournament since May 2008, seemed on course for her third straight sets win in a row when she raced through the first set in 31 minutes.
But the seventh seed from Budapest fought back brilliantly to break Henin early and hold the advantage for the remainder of the set.
The Belgian former world number one regrouped and broke Czink at 3-2 in the third, but three games later Czink attacked again and broke Henin to put the set back on serve.
Henin then had her first three match-point chances with Czink serving at 4-5, but couldn't convert any and the Hungarian held on to send the set into a tie-break.
The Belgian opened up a 6-3 lead, but the tenacious Czink clawed back to 6-5 before a Henin forehand cross court winner proved too good and the Belgian was through to a semi-final against third seed Ana Ivanovic.
Ivanovic earlier survived her own second set meltdown to squeeze past Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).
The third seed looked set to wrap up the quarter-final in under an hour when she led 4-0 in the second set only for Pavlyuchenkova to come storming back.
The Russian had a set point in the tie-break but couldn't take advantage and a relieved Ivanovic was able to close the match out in two.
The second set struggle continued a worrying trend for Ivanovic, who was taken to three sets in the two earlier rounds after winning the first set in both matches.
"I played really well from the first game and I was obviously a couple of breaks up in the second set and then I relaxed a little bit," she said.
"My intensity dropped and she's a good player, so she stepped up a little more and started moving a lot better."
Ivanovic said she was confident ahead of her clash with Henin.
"She's playing really good and she seems to be in good shape so it's going to be a good test for me. Whatever happens I'm just going to try and enjoy it," the Serb said.
"It's going to be a tough match but obviously I feel like I have a chance.
"Match after match I've been feeling more confident and also my shot selection is becoming better and better."
Unseeded German Andrea Petkovic stunned fourth seed Daniela Hantuchova in straight games 6-4, 6-2.
Petkovic, who beat eighth seed Iveta Benesova in the first round, broke her Slovak opponent three times to reach the semi-finals, where she will play either Kim Clijsters or Lucie Safarova.

Justine Henin showed she still had some way to go in her comeback to professional tennis when she sneaked past Melinda Czink of Hungary in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Thursday

Henin sneaks past tenacious Czink in Brisbane International

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Henin sneaks past tenacious Czink in Brisbane International

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