US Open results of day 8
By Etienne Stekelenburg
September 7 2004
Defending Champ and No.1 Justine Henin-Hardenne ousted by Nadia Petrova. The Russian only needed two sets to advance to the next round 63 62. Lindsay Davenport won against Venus Williams 75 64. Svetlana Kuznetsova defeats Mary Pierce 76(5) 62. Shinobu Asagoe defeats Eleni Daniilidou 76(4) 46 63
Nadia Petrova took the head-to-head against Justine Henin-Hardenne to 1-5, the Russian No.14 seed never took a victory in previous five meetings with the Belgian No. 1 and defending US Open Champion.
In the second tournament after being ill with a virus Justine Henin-Hardenne had no chance against Nadia Petrova. After losing her first two service games the Russian just in time stepped up her game and came back winning the first set 6-3.
In the second set she took the breakpoints when they came and Justine Henin-Hardenne was ousted after 84 minutes. Some asked if it would be wise to enter the Olympics after being away from tennis for such a long time, Henin-Hardenne took the gold and looked like she was ready to collect her second US Open Championship. Not counting Nadia Petrova obviously.
Nadia Petrova will meet her compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in the Wednesday semifinal.
After being down 5-2 in the first set Japans Shinobu Asagoe took the set in the end, winning the tiebreak 7-4. Greek Eleni Daniilidou made a strong comeback in the second winning 6-4 but could not prevent Asagoe, ranked 62, winning the third set and the match. 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3.
Singles - Fourth Round
Shinobu Asagoe (JPN) d. (29) Eleni Daniilidou (GRE) 76(4) 46 63
(9) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. (27) Mary Pierce (FRA) 76(5) 62
(5) Lindsay Davenport (USA) d. (11) Venus Williams (USA) 75 64
(14) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. (1) Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL) 63 62
Doubles - Third Round
(15) Dementieva/Sugiyama (RUS/JPN) d. (3) Black/Stubbs (ZIM/AUS) 62 64
(5) Navratilova/Raymond (USA/USA) d. Stewart/Stosur (AUS/AUS) 64 63
(1) Ruano Pascual/Suarez (ESP/ARG) d. Granville/Senoglu (USA/TUR) 62 64