Henin, Sharapova advance in Australian Open
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Now for the hard part. Justine Henin will put her 32-match winning streak on the line against Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open quarterfinals, their first meeting since the season-ending championship final in Madrid.
Top-ranked Henin continued her stretch of straight sets wins over unseeded players with a 6-2, 6-2 rout of Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei in the fourth round Sunday, when two-set victories dominated after an extra-long Day 6.
Fifth-seeded Sharapova pounded fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0, breaking the No. 11-ranked player in six of her seven service games, including one at love to finish off the match in 62 minutes.
“I have always had really tough games against her,” Sharapova said, “and I wanted to make sure I kept my focus all the way through.”
That was a good warmup for the next stage, she said.
“Justine’s the one to beat,” Sharapova said. “She’s on a pretty good winning streak, but every match is new.
“The one in Madrid was tough but physically she got me in the end – she was tougher than I was in the end. But I had many chances and I was very close to winning.”
Sharapova was seeded No. 1 here last year when Henin skipped the season-opening major because she was going through a divorce.
The Russian star reached the final before losing to Serena Williams in a lopsided final.
Williams also advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 over No. 11 Nicole Vaidisova in a rematch of last year’s semifinal.
She next plays No. 3-ranked Jelena Jankovic, a 7-6 (3), 6-1 winner over Australia’s Casey Dellacqua.
Henin lost the No. 1 ranking after the Australian Open last year, handing the top spot to Sharapova for seven weeks.
But Henin returned to the tour soon after, embarking on a 63-4 season which culminated with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 win over Sharapova in 3-hours, 24-minutes at the WTA Tour Championships in Madrid.
That was the longest best-of-three match in the history of the season-ending tournament and 12th-longest tour match in the Open era.
“I always know to beat her I have to be at my best,” said Henin, whose only loss since May was a Wimbledon semifinal upset to Marion Bartoli. “She’s a real fighter and she never gives up.”
Henin won the Sydney International title in the leadup to the Australian Open, beating No. 2-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final, and has added wins over Aiko Nakamura, Olga Poutchkova and No. 25 Francesca Schiavone at Melbourne Park.
Sharapova has not dropped a set in wins over Jelena Tosic Kostanic, former No. 1-ranked Lindsay Davenport, Elena Vesnina and Dementieva.
No. 2 Rafael Nadal also advanced to the quarterfinals in straight sets, including an abbreviated 6-3, 3-0 win in the fourth round when Paul-Henri Mathieu withdrew with an injured left leg.
His match was over at 10:30 p.m. at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday after he won 11 of 12 points to open the second set.
Mathieu had taken a medical timeout to receive treatment, and told the chair umpire after 50 minutes that he could not continue.
“I was playing well today, maybe I was playing my best tennis in Australia this year,” Nadal, the three-time French Open champion, said. “I’m happy to be in the quarterfinals – would have preferred not like this.”
The last match the previous night did not start until 11:47 p.m. and Lleyton Hewitt finally beat 2006 runner-up Marcos Baghdatis in five sets at 4:33 a.m on Sunday.
Even Roger Federer was taken to five sets Saturday – the first in six years in the first week of a Grand Slam event – against Serbian Janko Tisparevic.
Top-ranked Federer, chasing his third consecutive Australian title and 13th major, faces his first seeded rival when he takes on No. 13 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the fourth round Monday.
James Blake is against Marin Cilic and Hewitt takes on No. 3 Novak Djokovic in a night match.
David Nalbandian and Juan Carlos Ferrero stepped back on the same court to begin the Sunday schedule little more than six hours after Hewitt and Baghdatis walked off.
Former No. 1 Ferrero beat 10th-seeded Nalbandian 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in a third-round match postponed by rain Saturday. In another third-round match, No. 5 David Ferrer beat American Vincent Spadea 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. Ferrero will play Ferrer in the fourth round.
No. 24 Jarkko Nieminen beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (9), 6-3 and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga edged No. 8 held off fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-3.
Women’s third-round matches were also carried over to Sunday, with No. 9 Daniela Hantuchova beating Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-3, No. 14 Nadia Petrova defeating Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 7-6 (8), and Marta Domachowska overcoming China’s Li Na 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Hantuchova is back Monday against Maria Kirilenko and Petrova plays Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.
No. 4 Ana Ivanovic meets Caroline Wozniacki and Wimbledon champion Venus Williams takes on Domachowska.
Serena Williams is 24-1 in her last four visits to Melbourne and one of the most daunting women on tour.
“Oh, wow. It will be tough for sure,” Jankovic said. “We’ve had some tough matches. I’ve beaten here a few times, so we will see.”
Copyright Associated Press 2008