Tennis:Justine Henin saw off Nadia Petrova in straight sets this afternoon to set up a mouthwatering fourth-round clash with fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters. Clijsters earlier beat Maria Kirilenko and Henin had little trouble matching her as she overcame Petrova 6-1 6-4.
Making her first appearance on Centre Court for three years, i was as if the 17th seed had never been away as she broke Petrova, who famously beat Clijsters for the loss of only one game at the Australian Open his year, at the very start of the match.
The rest of the first set went much the same way, with Henin breaking her powerful opponent twice more in the fifth and seventh games.
Petrova was not prepared to lie down, though, and she upped her game at the start of the second set to break Henin and lead 2-1.
But the 28-year-old Belgian always looked threatening, particularly when she as given a chance to use her trademark backhand, and she duly levelled by taking the sixth game.
Henin then piled the pressure on Petrova by firing down two aces to hold for a 5-4 lead and the Russian could not handle it, sending a backhand long to give the former world number one victory.
Henin and Clijsters will meet in a grand slam for the first time since a semi-final clash here in 2006, with both spending periods in retirement in the intervening years.
Clijsters, who won the US Open last year only a month after returning to the tour, has won both their matches since then, and Henin is delighted to be renewing their rivalry on such a big stage.
“It’s fantastic,” Henin said. “A few years later being able to do it again, it’s a great opportunity to play each other again and we’re going to try to enjoy it.”
And Henin will go into the match on the back of what she described as her best performance since her January comeback.
She added: “I’m very happy. It was tight in the second set but I just played her point for point. It’s maybe the best level I’ve played since I’ve been back. She pushed me to raise my level. She’s a tough player, a fighter.”