Justine Henin tops Andrea Petkovic to win Unicef Open, her first grass-court title in 3 years

Henin wins 1st grass title in 3 years at Unicef

DEN BOSCH, Netherlands — Justine Henin beat No. 7 Andrea Petkovic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to win the Unicef Open on Saturday for her first grass-court title in three years.

After trading the first two sets, Petkovic broke the top-seeded Belgian in the second game of the final set before holding serve for a comfortable 3-0 lead.

But Henin, who was playing the tournament in a tuneup for Wimbledon, held serve and blasted a forehand winner on her way to breaking the German in the fifth game. Henin, who did not drop a set or face a tiebreak heading into the final, completed a stunning rally by breaking Petkovic in the ninth game.

“Andrea gave me a lot of problems in the third set when I had to come back from 3-0 down,” said Henin, who also won the tournament in 2001. “I kept fighting. I needed to win on the grass.”

Despite twice reaching the final, Henin is still looking for her first Wimbledon title. She resumed her career in January after 20 months in retirement.

Earlier Saturday, Sergiy Stakhovsky beat seventh-seeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-0 to win the men’s event.

Stakhovsky displayed a slicing backhand and some precise net play to win his third ATP title in 55 minutes. The unseeded Ukrainian had previously won titles in Zagreb in 2008 and St. Petersburg last year.