 Henin quickly overcame the shock of losing the opening set |
Justine Henin captured her eighth title of the year, coming from a set down to beat France's Tatiana Golovin 2-6 6-2 6-1 in the final of the Stuttgart Open. It was the first time the world number one had lost a set since her last defeat in the Wimbledon semi-finals.
The Belgian broke back immediately and sealed her 37th title, extending a winning streak to 16 matches.
For Golovin, it was a second successive defeat in the final, following her loss to Nadia Petrova last year.
Henin demonstrated a superb range of strokes as the match progressed and needed only 29 minutes to secure the final set.
She was relieved to recover from her slow start and explained: "Tatiana played at a very good level and I couldn't find my rhythm.
"She had control of the match in the first set, I was too defensive and then the match turned in the second set.
"I played much better and I was pretty relieved as I wasn't sure I could get back in the match."
The victory means Henin has equalled her best tally of WTA titles in a season and, with five tournaments left, she has set her sights on beating that number.
Henin added: "In 2003, I won eight tournaments out of 20, this year I have eight wins from 12 tournaments, so that is a record I would like to break."
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