Top ranked Justine Henin beat China's Peng Shuai 7-5, 6-2 on Thursday at the Rogers Cup, to move closer to her sixth WTA Tour title of the season.
Henin, who won the French Open title in June, was upset in the semi-finals at Wimbledon and had to pull out of a recent tournament in San Diego with injuries to both her wrists. However, she's playing well as she prepares for the US Open.
"I feel great now, I feel happy," Henin said. "I have the feeling I'm moving forward."
Other seeded players to advance included No. 2 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, No. 6 Nadia Petrova of Russia and No. 12 Tatiana Golovin of France. Seventh-seeded Marian Bartoli beat No. 9 Dinara Safina of Russia 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-0.
The winds were swirling on the Rexall Centre stadium court during Henin's afternoon matchup. At 5-5, Henin broke her 58th-ranked opponent and then held serve to win the first set. She looked more comfortable in the second set and completed the victory in 1 hour, 48 minutes.
Henin improved to 40-4 on the season to set up a quarter-final clash with sixth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia. Petrova defeated Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-4, 6-1.
"It's going to be hard, we've had some really tough meetings in the past," Henin said.
She beat Petrova 7-6, 7-6 in their only meeting this year at Miami and has won 10 of 12 career matchups.
Henin has had success in Toronto, winning there in 2003 and making it to the final in 2005 before losing to fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters.
Jankovic, who beat No. 13 seed Sybille Bammer of Austria 6-2, 6-3, was surprised by the rather lengthy fireworks display after her victory.
"I was like `Are those for me, or what?'" Jankovic said.
The Serb had been troubled by stomach cramps in the second set.
"It was nice. I was having this pain in my stomach and then I saw it and it made me feel a little bit better," she said.
Virginie Razzano downed 10th-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel 6-4, 6-3 while China's Yan Zi, ranked 169th in the world, pulled off another upset with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5) victory over Eleni Daniilidou of Greece. Yan stunned defending champion Ana Ivanovic a day earlier.
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