Story ProgressBack to home
Henin moves into 4th round
Justine Henin ran her winning streak to 31 matches, overcoming serving troubles to hold off 25th-seeded Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-4 in the third round
- Associated Press
- Updated: January 28, 2008 02:41 PM IST
Read Time:4 min
MELBOURNE:
The top-ranked Belgian star will face Aravene Rezai or Hsieh Su-wei in the fourth round, and a quarterfinal against Maria Sharapova looms.
"I hate to look too far," Henin said. "I just want to get ready, improve my game and be in my best shape. I know the draw, but I like to stay concentrated on myself."
After retiring from the 2006 Australian final against Amelie Mauresmo because of a stomach illness, Henin skipped the event last year because she was going through a divorce.
She has dominated the women's tour since returning, finishing 63-4, including two majors and the season-ending championship, in 2007. She added the Sydney International title last week to build up for Melbourne Park.
She got only 48 per cent of her first serves into play and was lucky it didn't cost her more against Schiavone, who has a similar style.
"It was really exciting. I'm glad to win in two," Henin said. "She's always given me trouble in the past, so it was a tough third round for me."
Henin controlled the crucial points better than Schiavone, who frequently screamed or covered her face after mistakes.
After the two players exchanged four service breaks in the first set, Schiavone served at 5-5. The Italian double-faulted on the first point, then came a foot fault as she served at break point.
In the second, Henin was down 0-1 and 15-30 before winning 15 of 16 points in four straight games. Schiavone hit back, and had the ideal chance to get back on serve with double break point as Henin served for the match, but over-hit a forehand when she returned a second serve. Henin won the last three points to close.
Nikolay Davydenko, seeded fourth, advanced to the fourth round of the men's draw, beating France's Marc Gicquel 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
Marcos Baghdatis downed 2005 champion Marat Safin 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 in a momentum-swinging match that started Thursday and stretched into Friday morning and completed the second round.
Safin was the last player to beat top-ranked Roger Federer in Melbourne, breaking up the Swiss star's four Australian titles with a semifinal upset three years ago.
Baghdatis is one of three losing Australian Open finalists still in contention _ a list that will certainly be reduced in the third round. He will play 2005 runner-up Lleyton Hewitt next. Fernando Gonzalez, who lost last year's championship match, beat South Korean Lee Hyung-taik 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Video of Baghdatis, a Greek Cypriot, holding a flare and apparently yelling "Turks Out," emerged in the Australian media on Friday, 10 months after it was posted on a video sharing Web site.
The 2006 runner-up did not apologize for the video in a statement released Friday in response to criticism from Melbourne's Turkish-Cypriot community, but said he wanted to concentrate only on the tennis.
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974.
The International Tennis Federation and Tennis Australia both said they would not be making any comment.
Federer has reached the finals of the last 10 Grand Slam tournaments and won eight of them, losing twice to Rafael Nadal at the French Open.
Nadal and Roddick are into the third round and playing later Friday. Nadal faces No. 28 Simon Gilles and sixth-seeded Roddick is against Philipp Kohlschreiber in a night match.
Last year's two women's finalists were to follow each other on Vodafone Arena, with defending champion Serena Williams facing No. 26 Victoria Azarenka and fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova against another Russian, Elena Vesnina.
A win for Williams would send her into a fourth-round match against No. 12 Nicole Vaidisova, who beat Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-4 on Friday.
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams made 44 unforced errors and struggled with her serve in a grinding 7-5, 6-4 win over Camille Pin. Williams will face No. 31 Sania Mirza of India.
No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 4 Ana Ivanovic, No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze, No. 9 Daniela Hantuchova and No. 14 Nadia Petrova joined them in the third round.
No. 3 Novak Djokovic and No. 10 David Nalbandian advanced on the men's side.
Nalbandian, 8-8 career with Federer and with the most recent two wins coming in October, is the only player still in the draw who has beaten Federer at Melbourne Park. He won their fourth-round match here in five sets in 2003.
They could not meet until the semifinals.
Federer won the last 10 games in a 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 win over Fabrice Santoro, ending the 35-year-old Frenchman's record 62nd major in the second round.
Justine Henin ran her winning streak to 31 matches on Friday, overcoming serving troubles to hold off 25th-seeded Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-4 in the third round of the Australian Open.The top-ranked Belgian star will face Aravene Rezai or Hsieh Su-wei in the fourth round, and a quarterfinal against Maria Sharapova looms.
"I hate to look too far," Henin said. "I just want to get ready, improve my game and be in my best shape. I know the draw, but I like to stay concentrated on myself."
After retiring from the 2006 Australian final against Amelie Mauresmo because of a stomach illness, Henin skipped the event last year because she was going through a divorce.
She has dominated the women's tour since returning, finishing 63-4, including two majors and the season-ending championship, in 2007. She added the Sydney International title last week to build up for Melbourne Park.
She got only 48 per cent of her first serves into play and was lucky it didn't cost her more against Schiavone, who has a similar style.
"It was really exciting. I'm glad to win in two," Henin said. "She's always given me trouble in the past, so it was a tough third round for me."
Henin controlled the crucial points better than Schiavone, who frequently screamed or covered her face after mistakes.
After the two players exchanged four service breaks in the first set, Schiavone served at 5-5. The Italian double-faulted on the first point, then came a foot fault as she served at break point.
In the second, Henin was down 0-1 and 15-30 before winning 15 of 16 points in four straight games. Schiavone hit back, and had the ideal chance to get back on serve with double break point as Henin served for the match, but over-hit a forehand when she returned a second serve. Henin won the last three points to close.
Nikolay Davydenko, seeded fourth, advanced to the fourth round of the men's draw, beating France's Marc Gicquel 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
Marcos Baghdatis downed 2005 champion Marat Safin 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 in a momentum-swinging match that started Thursday and stretched into Friday morning and completed the second round.
Safin was the last player to beat top-ranked Roger Federer in Melbourne, breaking up the Swiss star's four Australian titles with a semifinal upset three years ago.
Baghdatis is one of three losing Australian Open finalists still in contention _ a list that will certainly be reduced in the third round. He will play 2005 runner-up Lleyton Hewitt next. Fernando Gonzalez, who lost last year's championship match, beat South Korean Lee Hyung-taik 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Video of Baghdatis, a Greek Cypriot, holding a flare and apparently yelling "Turks Out," emerged in the Australian media on Friday, 10 months after it was posted on a video sharing Web site.
The 2006 runner-up did not apologize for the video in a statement released Friday in response to criticism from Melbourne's Turkish-Cypriot community, but said he wanted to concentrate only on the tennis.
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974.
The International Tennis Federation and Tennis Australia both said they would not be making any comment.
Federer has reached the finals of the last 10 Grand Slam tournaments and won eight of them, losing twice to Rafael Nadal at the French Open.
Nadal and Roddick are into the third round and playing later Friday. Nadal faces No. 28 Simon Gilles and sixth-seeded Roddick is against Philipp Kohlschreiber in a night match.
Last year's two women's finalists were to follow each other on Vodafone Arena, with defending champion Serena Williams facing No. 26 Victoria Azarenka and fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova against another Russian, Elena Vesnina.
A win for Williams would send her into a fourth-round match against No. 12 Nicole Vaidisova, who beat Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-4 on Friday.
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams made 44 unforced errors and struggled with her serve in a grinding 7-5, 6-4 win over Camille Pin. Williams will face No. 31 Sania Mirza of India.
No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 4 Ana Ivanovic, No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze, No. 9 Daniela Hantuchova and No. 14 Nadia Petrova joined them in the third round.
No. 3 Novak Djokovic and No. 10 David Nalbandian advanced on the men's side.
Nalbandian, 8-8 career with Federer and with the most recent two wins coming in October, is the only player still in the draw who has beaten Federer at Melbourne Park. He won their fourth-round match here in five sets in 2003.
They could not meet until the semifinals.
Federer won the last 10 games in a 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 win over Fabrice Santoro, ending the 35-year-old Frenchman's record 62nd major in the second round.
Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis Andy Roddick Lukas Dlouhy Rohan Bopanna Leander Paes Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi Maria Sharapova
Get the Latest India vs England 2024 Updates and check out IND vs ENG schedules and IPL 2024 Auction. Read all the details related to the IPL 2024.Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more sports updates. You can also download the NDTV Cricket app for Android or iOS.