Henin, Mauresmo, Davenport on collison course

By Chris Davies
January 23 2004

Justine Henin-Hardenne, Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo remain on course for their quarter-final and semi-final clashes all winning their third round matches

The Belgian claimed the first set 6-2, but the Russian started to relax and twice went a break in front but could not hold off the challenge of Henin-Hardenne, losing 7-5.

"It's great to have this kind of match in the third round. I had to keep fighting to the end," said Henin-Hardenne.

"I'm pretty happy because she's a tough opponent and I won in two sets. It's great to have this kind of match in the third round because I knew that before going on to court, I had to be 100% if I wanted to win.

"The kind of matches I got in the first two rounds don't help me too much to improve my game.

"But today I knew it could be really tough and that she could win. So I was careful and totally focused and that was great."

Henin-Hardenne next faces Italy's Mara Santangelo after she caused the surprise of the day by ousting 19th seed Eleni Daniilidou 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

France's Amelie Mauresmo continued her destructive progress through the event with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues.
The fourth seed has only lost six games in three matches so far and was always in control against the world number 70.

Mauresmo did suffer a scare late in the second set when she needed lengthy treatment for a lower leg injury.

She will now face Alicia Molik who overcame Luxembourg’s Claudine Schaul when she hit back after losing the first set on a tie-break to claim a 6-7, 6-1, 6-2 win.

Australia could have had 2 women in the third round but Nicole Pratt was outgunned by 11th seed Vera Zvonareva 7-5, 6-1 and now faces 5th seed Lindsay Davenport.

Davenport didn’t start of on a good foot has she quickly fell 4-1 down against compatriot Laura Granville. After a slow start Davenport, the 2000 winner, reeled off 11 games in a row to win 6-4, 6-0.