• Porsche Tennis Grand Prix

Henin trumps Jankovic as Safina crashes out

Justine Henin played an aggressive game to beat Jelena Jankovic

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Former world No. 1 Justine Henin booked her place in the semi-finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, coming from behind to beat second seed Jelena Jankovic.

In a match worthy of the final, Henin converted all four break point opportunities to clinch a 3-6 7-6(4) 6-3 victory. Jankovic looked to be heading into the last four after claiming the opening set and going a break up, but the Belgian wildcard battled back to force the set to a tie-breaker.

In the ascendancy, Henin took the tie-breaker before breaking Jankovic immediately to lead 2-0 in the deciding set. Although the world No. 7 managed to draw level momentarily, Henin was spraying the ball to the far corners of the court and Jankovic had no answer as her opponent took a second break, before emphatically sealing match on the Serbian's serve with a stunning cross-court winner.

"That was really intense," said Henin. "She played very well in the first set and I was under a lot of pressure and I couldn't be really aggressive. But I just kept fighting in the second set and I am very happy to come through."

Henin will now meet Shahar Peer in the last four, after the Israeli dumped second seed Dinara Safina out 6-3 6-2. Playing in her first tournament since the Australian Open in January after recovering from a back injury, the world No. 3 was made to pay for her lack of match practice.

Clearly feeling the effects of her epic two-hour second-round encounter against Agnes Szavay on Thursday, the Russian appeared to lack the killer instinct that saw her top the world rankings last year, failing to win the important points. It was Safina who created more break points, but Peer made the most of her opportunities to seal her fourth career victory over Safina to book her place in the semi-finals.

Sam Stosur's impressive clay-court form continued as she cruised past Na Li to reach the quarter-finals. It was a clinical display from the world No. 10, who converted all three of her break point opportunities to seal a 6-3 6-3 victory in just over an hour.

Stosur will be the favourite to reach the final as she takes on world No.138 Anna Lapushchenkova after the Russian qualifier continued her giantkilling run to knock out Lucie Safarova 7-6(1) 1-6 6-1. Despite serving 13 double faults, Lapushenkova, who claimed the scalp of sixth seed Victoria Azarenka in the third round, pulled off the biggest victory of her career to reach the semi-finals of a WTA Tour event for the first time.

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