Henin is hoping to win her fourth Dubai title

Henin fought back to beat third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-6 6-4 6-0, while Mauresmo led Jelena Jankovic 6-2 when the Serbian retired with an injury.

In a bizarre encounter, when leading 4-2 Mauresmo summoned referee Alan Mills onto court to correct the score.

Jankovic then injured her ankle and collapsed on court in the next game.

She played five more points after treatment but conceded the match after dropping her serve.

"I was so scared I was shaking," said Jankovic. "It was a shock for me. It was hurting really badly and right away it was swollen.

She got so much into it and played unbelievable, and me, I got worse Svetlana Kuznetsova

"The trainer put on some tape but it was so painful I couldn't serve or land on my foot."

Earlier, Belgian Henin made a dreadful start and lost the first seven points as her Russian opponent took the first set.

She dug deep in the second and then forced Kuznetsova into a string of errors in a much-improved third set.

Henin, who won the title in 2003, 2004 and 2006, is unbeaten in 15 matches in Dubai.

She said: "I was a little bit nervous. I knew she had a lot of motivation and I could feel that she was really on the court to give me a hard time.

"She was hitting the ball very hard, and was in the court and I was too far from my baseline.

Then slowly, in the second set, things were changing and that allowed me to come back into the match.

"I was leading 4-1 and she came back to 4-4, but I had a better attitude at that point and I just kept fighting.

"From 4-4 to the end of the match it was my best tennis, no more mistakes, I just went for the winners, good choices, and I'm happy the way the match ended for sure."

Kuznetsova said she had tired towards the end.

"It was strange," said Kuznetsova. "I started very well and ended up bad, and she was the opposite.