Henin beats No. 2-seeded Wozniacki 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 in Key Biscayne quarterfinals

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Henin beats Wozniacki at Key Biscayne

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — Justine Henin made another comeback Wednesday.

The former No. 1, playing her fourth tournament since coming out of retirement, rallied to beat No. 2-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open.

Henin lost only two of 22 service points in the final set, closing out the 2-hour, 45-minute match with a love game.

“I didn’t play for two years, so it’s good to be on the court a little bit longer,” she said with a smile.

Henin’s play steadied after she committed 31 unforced errors in the opening set. She said she struggled early with Wozniacki’s wide variety of shots, including an occasional moon ball.

“She’s really smart,” Henin said. “She never hits two balls in the row with the same rhythm. She pushed me to play and work a lot.”

Andy Roddick advanced to the men’s semifinals when he beat No. 33-seeded Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-3. Roddick committed only 10 unforced errors in 110 points, and he has yet to drop a set in four rounds.

“When play a lot of matches and kind of play a high level, it feels like everything kind of slows down a little bit,” Roddick said. “Muscle memory takes over a little bit more. I think I’m at that stage right now. Unfortunately with tennis, you have to start over every day.”

Roddick, the 2004 champion, will play Friday against the winner of Wednesday night’s match between No. 4-seeded Rafael Nadal and No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The quarterfinals went without No. 1-ranked Roger Federer, who lost to No. 16-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6) in a fourth-round match that ended at 12:16 a.m. Wednesday.

The result could be a break for Roddick, who’s 2-19 against Federer.

“Obviously you’re surprised any time he loses,” Roddick said. “But that’s tennis. That’s why you play.”

Henin’s opponent Thursday will be the winner of the match Wednesday night between Kim Clijsters, another Belgian who has come out of retirement, and Samantha Stosur. Three-time champion Venus Williams will play No. 13-seeded Marion Bartoli in the other semifinal Thursday.

The unseeded Henin, who received a wild card to enter the tournament, has beaten four seeded players in a row. She’s 16-3 since ending a 20-month retirement in January, and she’ll move back into the top 30 in next week’s rankings.

“I enjoy my game much more than in the past,” Henin said. “Every win has a very sweet taste at the moment.”

The seven-time Grand Slam champion seeks her first Key Biscayne title. Her best finish came in 2007, when she lost to Serena Williams in the final.

She was playing for the first time against the 19-year-old Wozniacki, who said that as a youngster she watched Henin on TV. Wozniacki said she wasn’t surprised that Henin played so well against her.

“It’s really difficult to play matches again after you haven’t played for a while, but I think she just didn’t feel the pressure,” Wozniacki said. “She just went out there and enjoyed it, and that’s why the results are coming.”