Eighth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne fought back from a set down to topple top seed Lindsay Davenport 2-6 6-2 6-3 today and reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
A delighted Henin-Hardenne, who has battled injury for more than a year, will play fourth seed Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals. "From where I'm coming from, I've been injured for such a long time, it's great to be back in the semi-finals," Henin-Hardenne told local television.
Sharapova fought her way out of trouble to beat sixth seed Nadia Petrova in an all-Russian quarter-final where she closed out her opponent in two hours 7-6 6-4.
"It was definitely not easy. We were breaking each other's serves left and right out there. It was a miracle when someone held serve," said Sharapova. "I just tried to hang in there. It's really tough being down two set points. But I gutted it out in the first point, then had an easy second point."
Henin-Hardenne, a clear favourite with the bookmakers despite coming back from a hamstring injury, got off to a shaky start in a tentative opening by both players.
The Belgian twice double-faulted on break point in the third and seventh games to hand Davenport the early advantage in a sloppy first set that included six breaks of serve. But the plucky Belgian, who did not defend her 2004 Australian title last year because of a knee injury, tightened her game in the second set against a flat-footed Davenport to force the decider.
Henin-Hardenne got her backhand working well in the third set to wear down Davenport, who tried to dominate from the back of the court but could not match her opponent's speed and range of shots.
Davenport has also been carrying an ankle injury during the tournament. Both players struggled with their service games in a match littered with 13 breaks of serve, six of them in the first set. But Henin-Hardenne held her nerve over the closing stages and fended off Davenport's own attempt to fight back.
Henin-Hardenne pumped her fists and jumped in the air after Davenport pushed a backhand service return over the baseline on the first match point to finish a match that lasted just under two hours.
The win was also a significant one for Henin-Hardenne's compatriot Kim Clijsters as it means she will take over from Davenport as the world number one in the next rankings list.
Clijsters will play three times champion Martina Hingis tomorrow for a place in the semi-finals. Hingis is unseeded but was granted a wild card into her first grand slam after she came out of a premature, injury-induced retirement.