Henin and Sharapova march on

Tennis:   Top seed Justine Henin has battled through to the fourth round of the Australian Open after a straight sets victory…

Tennis:  Top seed Justine Henin has battled through to the fourth round of the Australian Open after a straight sets victory over gritty Italian Francesca Schiavone.

Henin completed a 7-5 6-4 triumph on the Rod Laver Arena but was forced to dig deep to overcome the 25th seed.

Despite some uncomfortable moments, Henin did not relinquish victory and duly closed out the win when Schiavone hit a return wide.

Maria Sharapova booked her spot in the fourth round with a comfortable 6-3 6-0 win over fellow Russian Elena Vesnina on the Vodafone Arena.

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Sharapova will face another compatriot in the next round when she takes on Elena Dementieva after she overcame Israel's Shahar Peer 6-2 6-0 in her third round match earlier in the day.

Defending champion Serena Williams booked her place in the fourth round with a comfortable 6-3 6-4 win over Victoria Azarenka on the Rod Laver Arena.

The win means Williams will face number 12 seed Nicole Vaidisova in the next round after the Czech saw of Japan's Ai Sugiyama in straight sets 6-3 6-4.

Jelena Jankovic was given a scare by French number 30 seed Virginie Razzano before she came through in three sets 6-2 4-6 6-1.

Jankovic will play the winner of Amelie Mauresmo and Casey Dellacqua in the fourth round.

In the men's singles Jo-Wilfried Tsonga showed no mercy to an under the weather Guillermo Garcia-Lopez as the exciting French youngster won their third round clash.

Tsonga, who upset British number nine seed Andy Murray in four sets in the opening round on Monday, has backed up that surprise result with two convincing victories, the latest a 6-3 6-4 6-2 defeat of Spaniard Garcia-Lopez.

He will now face the winner of this afternoon's clash between eighth-seeded compatriot Richard Gasquet and Russian number 31 seed Igor Andreev in the fourth round.

In other completed matches so far on Day Five, fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko had little trouble brushing aside Tsonga's countryman Marc Gicquel 6-3 6-2 6-3, setting up a fourth-round meeting with fellow Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

Youzhny, the 14th seed, hit an impressive 25 winners as he broke serve five times in six opportunities en route to a 6-2 6-4 6-2 win over 20th seed Ivo Karlovic but was given a helping hand by the Croatian's 42 unforced errors.