TENNIS FRENCH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS:JUSTINE HENIN grinds on; Venus Williams wimps out – and Caroline Wozniacki serves notice that she is the sleeper in the women's singles at this French Open.
While the tennis went pretty much to script, nobody was quite prepared for the stunning conclusion to the delayed main event when Henin had to draw on some of her genius to get past the outrageously determined Maria Sharapova.
Both brought rearranged serves to Roland Garros but the Russian always gives the impression of fragility, and some wondered if that right shoulder would hold up to a punch-up with the little Belgian.
It did but, over the course of two hours and 10 minutes, Henin’s class was too much even for an opponent capable of switching in mid-exchange from right to left hand. Remarkable.
Henin won 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. She meets Sam Stosur in the last 16 but refuses to look past the Australian to a likely quarter-final against Serena Williams.
“We played a tough one in Stuttgart just a few weeks ago,” Henin said of Stosur. “Sam is a great player on clay, which is probably her best surface. She has a big serve, big forehand.”
Henin’s one problem is her serve; she sent down 10 double faults. “I was really feeling under pressure, not getting a lot of first serves, and also when I was love-40 at 2-0 (down in the third set). I came to the net and that gave me my confidence back.
“After that, everything was easier to go to the net and play more aggressively.”
First up on the main show court, Elena Dementieva was never stretched against the South African qualifier Chanelle Scheepers, winning 6-1, 6-3 in 74 minutes.
Life now gets tough for the fifth seed. Against expectations, she meets her fellow Russian Nadia Petrova – who made a nonsense of her 19th seeding by going blow for blow with Venus Williams in what turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax.
Williams looked out of sorts even before they hit up, scowling into the grey skies that started to spit lightly; it looked very much as if she would rather have scurried inside rather than take on Petrova, who expressed a hunger for the fight from the first game to the last, winning 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and a half.
Petrova recognised what many say about Venus’s game: there is not a lot of variety to it. The Russian showed more willingness to mix up the depth and pace of her ground strokes, eventually giving herself the room to go across court for some well-timed but unspectacular winners. Petrova is very effective if slightly robotic.
Elsewhere on that side of the draw, Wozniacki had to do it the hard way against the Italian number one Flavia Pennetta. Wozniacki, who won 7-6, 6-7, 6-2, oozed determination, breaking Pennetta’s will in the third set. She seems to be getting stronger in this tournament.
The third seed meets Pennetta’s compatriot Francesca Schiavone in the quarter-final. Schiavone, seeded 17, had few problems in her two-sets stroll against the Russian Maria Kirilenko, winning 6-4, 6-4.
Roland Garros Results
WOMEN’S SINGLES: Third round: (22) Justine Henin (Bel) bt (12) Maria Sharapova (Rus) 6-2 3-6 6-3. Fourth round: (5) Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Chanelle Scheepers (Rsa) 6-1 6-3, (17) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt (30) Maria Kirilenko (Rus) 6-4 6-4, (19) Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt (2) Venus Williams (USA) 6-4 6-3,
(3) Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt (14) Flavia Pennetta (Ita) 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (4-7) 6-2
MEN’S SINGLES: Fourth round: (1) Roger Federer (Swi) bt (20) Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi) 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 ,(5) Robin Soderling (Swe) bt (10) Marin Cilic (Cro) 6-4 6-4 6-2, (11) Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt (8) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 6-2 ret, (15) Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt (4) Andy Murray (Brit) 6-4 7-5 6-3.
