It was a very windy day in Toronto, but top-ranked Justine Henin managed to beat Nadia Petrova in straight sets 7-6 6-3. The Belgian will next meet Chinese qualifier Yan Zi, famous for defeating defending champion Ana Ivanovic in the second round. Yan Zi reached the semis, when her opponent in the quarterfinals, Marion Bartoli, retired because of a virus while trailing 6-2 3-0.

The other semifinal pair is Jelena Jankovic vs. Tatiana Golovin. In the quarterfinals the second-seeded Serb beat Virginie Razzano 7-5 6-2, while the Frenchwoman advanced to the semis with the 2-6 7-5 6-1`win over third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Weather conditions were a real problem to the players. "I can tell you it was terrible out there," said Henin. "Here the wind turns all the time, it's hard to play good tennis. It's tough, very tough." Jankovic was also bothered by the wind: "Today was the strongest I have ever experienced". (via BBC)

Justine Henin and Jelena Jankovic are the first women to qualify for the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid, November 6-11. The Belgian and the Serb are currently in first and second place respectively in the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships with 3245 and 2990 points each.

Henin, who took the title in Madrid last year, currently leads the WTA Tour, winning five titles so far this season (Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Qatar Total Open in Doha, Qatar; J&S Cup in Warsaw, Poland; Roland Garros in Paris, France; International Women's Open in Eastbourne, Great Britain), while world number three Jankovic has claimed four titles to date in 2007 (ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand; Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, USA; Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Italy; and DFS Classic in Birmingham, Great Britain). Read more »

Another attractive exhibition match is on the way — two extraordinary tennis players Justine Henin and Steffi Graf will face each other in Mannheim, Germany, on October 27. The match will be a part of a children’s festival hosted by Children for Tomorrow, a charity founded and chaired by Steffi Graf. (source: On the Baseline)

Justine Henin is now on a vacation and due to wrist injury won’t play at the Acura Classic in San Diego, which starts on July 30. Fresh-looking world No. 1 will return to court no sooner than August 5, and if everything goes well, the tournament she’ll compete in before the US Open will be the Rogers Cup in Toronto, starting August 13. (via Justine Henin’s website)

What a makeover! Justine has never been my favorite considering the looks, but she definitely found the right track, i.e. the makeup artist and stylist found it for her. Here are the photos of her posing for next week’s issue of Le Soir.

I hope she’ll continue to look this good. (via Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog)