MOSCOW, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - The World No.2 from Russia, Svetlana Kuznetsova, lost the final Friday of the 2008 Medibank International tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia, to world No.1 Justine Henin from Belgium.
The Russian, seeded 2nd, took the first set 6-4 but lost the next two to the tournament's top-seed.
The match, which lasted two hours and 17 minutes, ended in victory for Henin 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 and brought the number of the tournaments won by the Belgian athlete to 40.
In an interview posted on the official tournament website before the final match, Kuznetsova said she had a great respect for Henin.
"If I play Justine and lose to the number one that is fine," Kuznetsova said. "She has an amazing career and I have all respect."
