Justine Henin-Hardenne fought through the pain barrier to win a dramatic three-hour battle with former world number one Lindsay Davenport to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals in Melbourne yesterday.
Henin-Hardenne, who had never beaten ninth-seeded Davenport in five previous meetings, clinched a 7-5, 5-7, 9-7 victory despite collapsing in agony towards the end of the three-hour-13-minute epic.
In the men's tournament it was a routine day for second seed Andre Agassi, who made it safely into the quarter-finals after Argentinian opponent Guillermo Coria retired injured with Agassi leading 6-1, 3-1.
In energy-sapping afternoon heat, Belgian fifth seed Henin-Hardenne beat Davenport in the most compelling match of the Grand Slam event so far.
Henin-Hardenne collapsed with cramps after attempting to serve at 0-15 down and the match poised at 7-7 in the final set.
When she returned she produced a second service ace and held before clinching the match.
Henin-Hardenne admitted she had thought she had blown her chance after cramping up.
"I thought `Okay, you let your chance go in the second, now you're cramping in the third.' And Lindsay was looking fine," she said.
"I was thinking `I hope I can just play.' The trainer asked me `Okay, are you able to continue?.' I said `I'm gonna try' ... then I served an ace on my second serve and it was amazing. When that happened I thought `Okay it's my day today.'"
Davenport was quick to dispel any suggestion that Henin-Hardenne might have been resorting to gamesmanship as the Belgian had angrily accused her of doing during a tournament in Zurich last October.
Asked if she thought Henin-Hardenne had faked her injuries, she laughed. "No, no. I'm way above that," Davenport said, describing the battle as one of the most dramatic of her career.
* Venus Williams looked way off her best while disposing of Australia's Nicole Pratt 6-3, 6-2.
* She will play Daniela Hantuchova in the next round after the Slovakian seventh seed earned a 7-5, 6-3 win over Switzerland's Patty Schnyder.
* Spanish fourth seed Juan Carlos Ferrerwill play South African Wayne Ferreira in the last eight tomorrow.
"There were so many twists and turns to the match, so many times where the momentum would go up and down," said the 26-year-old Californian.
"In a match like that, at the end it comes down to a few points. It could have gone my way but it didn't," said Davenport.
Henin-Hardenne will now play Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual in the next round, who defeated the Czech Republic's Denisa Chladkova 6-3, 6-3 in their fourth round match earlier yesterday.
There was an unconvincing win for women's second seed Venus Williams, who looked way off her best in disposing of Australia's Nicole Pratt 6-3, 6-2.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Williams will play Daniela Hantuchova in the next round after the Slovakian seventh seed earned a 7-5, 6-3 win over Switzerland's Patty Schnyder.
After Williams' shaky performance, Hantuchova will fancy her chances of causing problems again for an opponent she took to three sets in last year's Open.
It was a Jekyll-and-Hyde performance from Williams, who mixed some ballistic groundstrokes and wonderful work at the net with a high number of unforced errors and a patchy service game.
Afterwards Williams shrugged off her jittery display and said she had expected Pratt to provide an awkward challenge.
"I was expecting her to play really well," said Williams. "I know she's a really good competitor, no matter what the score is, how far down she was. I did know going into the match I would have to compete.
"There were a lot of times I would hit a hard ball and she'd hit it right back at me. I wasn't ready for those."
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