BRISBANE: Justine Henin showed she still had some way to go in her comeback to professional tennis when she sneaked past Melinda Czink of Hungary in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International today.

Czink saved five match points in the third set but couldn’t save a sixth as Henin won an intriguing contest 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5). Henin, playing her first tournament since May 2008, seemed on course for her third straight sets win in a row when she raced through the first set in 31 minutes. But the seventh seed from Budapest fought back brilliantly to break Henin early and hold the advantage for the remainder of the set.

The Belgian former world No 1 regrouped and broke Czink at 3-2 in the third, but three games later Czink attacked again and broke Henin to put the set back on serve.

Henin then had her first three match-point chances with Czink serving at 4-5, but couldn’t convert any and the Hungarian held on to send the set into a tie-break.

The Belgian opened up a 6-3 lead, but the tenacious Czink clawed back to 6-5 before a Henin forehand cross court winner proved too good and the Belgian was through to a semi-final against third seed Ana Ivanovic.

Ivanovic earlier survived her own second set meltdown to squeeze past Russian Anastasia Pavlyu-chenkova 6-2, 7-6 (8-6). The third seed looked set to wrap up the quarter-final in under an hour when she led 4-0 in the second set only for Pavlyuchenkova to come storming back. The Russian had a set point in the tie-break but couldn’t take advantage and a relieved Ivanovic was able to close the match out in two.

Also, unseeded German Andrea Petkovic stunned fourth seed Daniela

Hantuchova in straight games 6-4, 6-2.

Petkovic, who beat eighth seed Iveta Benesova in the first round, broke her Slovak opponent three times to reach the semi-finals, where she will play either Kim Clijsters or Lucie Safarova.

Doha Open

DOHA: Roger Federer, aiming to regain a title he last won four years ago, reached the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open with a performance which for the second successive day suggested he is starting the new season well rested and in fine shape.

The Grand Slam record-breaker won 6-2, 6-4 against Evgeny Korolev, a young and rising Russian on the verge of the world’s top 50. Federer is seeded to play a final on Saturday against his greatest rival, Rafael Nadal, who looked particularly pumped up after dismissing Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 6-2. Nadal next plays Steve Darcis, a Belgian qualifier who was too fresh and fast for Younes El Aynaoui, winning 6-3, 6-1.

Federer next plays Ernests Gulbis, the 21-year-old Latvian who beat Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4 7-5. Russian Nikolay Davydenko, who beat Federer on the way to winning the ATP World Tour Masters in London four weeks ago, saw off Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland 6-3, 6-4.