A tenacious Justine Henin returned to big-time tennis with a bang yesterday by downing fifth seed Elena Dementieva at the Australian Open, while Rafael Nadal kept his title defense on track.
Playing only her second tournament since making a comeback from an 18-month retirement, the seven-time Grand Slam champion showed she still has what it takes in a 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) epic that lasted almost three hours.
She next plays 27th seed Alisa Kleybanova with a quarter-final looming against fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters, who was given a thorough examination by Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn.
PHOTO: AFP
Clijsters, also on the comeback trail after a break to start a family, triumphed 6-3, 6-3, but it was harder than the score suggested for the 15th seed.
Her serve was broken in each set before she dug deep to win.
Spanish second seed Nadal was in rip-roaring form as he smashed hapless Slovak Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 to stay on track for a potential last eight meeting with Andy Murray.
The Scotsman also looked ominous with a flawless 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 mauling of Frenchman Marc Gicquel.
Fourth seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina was given a huge scare by American James Blake.
The US Open champion battled for over four hours before winning a titanic five-setter to reach the third round 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 5-7, 6-3, 10-8.
Other top names also showing their credentials included Dinara Safina, Andy Roddick and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Safina, the second seed who was beaten in the final last year by Serena Williams, posted a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Czech Republic’s Barbora Zahlavova Strycova but struggled.
She made nine more unforced errors (40 to 31) than her 57th-ranked opponent and had problems with her serve, facing multiple break points each time.
“Overall there were too many unforced errors,” she admitted.
Unlike the high-profile Clijsters and Henin, Russian third seed Kuznetsova is flying under the radar and looked impressive in her 6-2, 6-2 defeat of countrywoman Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Danish fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki downed Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak 6-4, 6-2 while Belarusian seventh seed Victoria Azarenka blasted her way past France’s Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-2, 6-0.
In the men’s draw, Roddick ranted at the umpire after completing a straight sets win over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.
The American seventh seed had just served out a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory when he continued to argue over a Hawk Eye video review decision that narrowly went against him on the first of his two match points.
He later apologized.
Taiwan fared slightly better yesterday than on Tuesday, when two Taiwanese singles players were ousted in the first round. Yesterday Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and China’s Peng Shuai defeated Julia Goerges of Germany and Spaniard Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-3, 6-4, while Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Romanian Monica Niculescu defeated Monique Adamczak of Australia and compatriot Nicole Kriz 6-3, 6-1.
British pair Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski beat Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun and Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 6-4.
In women’s singles, Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic defeated Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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