ANTWERP, Belgium, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Justine Henin easily beat Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 6-3 at Friday's quarterfinals of the Diamond Games tennis tournament in Antwerp, Belgium.
The Belgian native needed one hour, 46 minutes before a home crowd to put herself in position to win at the site of her first career title.
"I didn't know much about my opponent before the match," she admitted. "But I knew it would not be easy."
Kleybanova, 18, a qualifier from Moscow, had her service broken five times in her first career quarterfinal.
Other results found Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky leading third-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 4-6, 4-1 when the Slovakian retired with a respiratory illness; fourth-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder lost 6-2, 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7-2) to Italian Karin Knapp; and ninth-seeded Na Li of China topped Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson 7-5, 6-4.
Saturday's semifinals feature Henin against Bacsinszky and Na against Knapp.
Sunday's champion will earn $95,500.
