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Eastbourne, England (dpa) - Justine Henin-Hardenne lifted the first grass trophy in five years on Saturday when she rallied to victory over Anastasia Myskina, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) to win the Eastbourne Championships.
Less than a fortnight after claiming a third French Open title, the Belgian scored her fifth consecutive win over Myskina, who won the Roland Garros crown two years ago.
Victory in just under two hours was the 16th win in 17 matches for Henin-Hardenne, who now has 27 singles titles.
She claimed it on her debut in Devonshire Park at the traditional Wimbledon warmup event.
Myskina, who won the first set but was blown away in the second before recovering her poise to make a match of it in the third, saved four match points.
Three of those success stories came in the tenth game of the third set as the 24-year-old Russian levelled through six deuces to stay in the chase at 5-5.
As the set went to a concluding tiebreak, Myskina again held off the Belgian former world number 1, salvaging another winning chance from a Henin-Hardenne error.
Henin-Hardenne finally moved through on her fifth winning chance to improve her record to 8-2 against Myskina.
"It was very close at the end," said the winner. "Anastasia never gives up, she's a real fighter. It was a question of nerves in the tiebreaker.
"It's just great to have a first grass title," said Henin- Hardenne, who in fact won the small grass tournament in s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, five years ago.
Henin-Hardenne wasted no time in breaking away for 2-1 before her momentum slowed and Myskina was able to get the match back level at 4-4.
Henin-Hardenne found herself in trouble and facing a set point after a net cord winner set up nicely by Myskina.
The Russian was unable to convert on her first chance, but did better on her second when Henin-Hardenne mishit a backhand after 42 minutes.
But the third-seeded Henin-Hardenne roared back, breaking Myskina at will to bring on a deciding third set after just over an hours on the lawn.
The pair of intense fighters traded breaks in the first two games before the dramatics which finally decided the outcome. Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
