2011 Australian Open: Justine Henin exits amidst seed survivals
Belgium’s second favourite and 2008 Champion, Justine Henin was forced to exit the Australian Open after she lost her third round match at Melbourne Park on Friday.
Playing her third round match, eleventh seeded Henin was pitted against twenty third seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova. Meeting for the nineteenth time on the court, Henin already
led the head to head score 16-2. Given the disparity in the ranking and the fact that Henin has beaten Kuznetsova many times before, it came as much surprise to everyone when the latter defeated Henin in straight sets.
In a match that lasted exactly two hours, Kuznetsova served really well to secure a 6-4 lead in the opener before sealing her victory with a 10-8 win in the tiebreaker.
The Russian converted 3 of 5 breakpoints and lost only 34 of 84 points on service to secure her third career victory over the Belgian. Winning the match, Kuznetsova said,
"I had a perfect match: 64 54 and serving. Then the nerves came. You try to take your time, but it's not working. I had to fight against myself and against Justine, so I'm pleased. I was quite lucky actually. The tie-break was like a lottery, it was crazy. I'm
happy I won in two sets."
This is the first time since 2002 that Henin has not made it into the quarterfinals. Although Henin exits the event other top ten seeds made it through.
Kuznetsova moves into the fourth round where she will play eighth seed Francesca Schiavone. The 2010 Roland Garros champion, defeated Monica Niculescu 6-0, 7-6(2) in the
pair’s second round match.
Also making it into the fourth round is eighth seed, Victoria Azarenka. An error prone Azarenka stumbled past Chanelle Scheepers albeit in straight sets to secure a spot
for himself in the fourth round.
Registering 22 unforced errors, Azarenka converted 5 of 7 break points and lost only 21 of 56 points on service to secure a twins set score victory of 6-3, 6-3 over her
South African opponent. Moving into the fourth round, Azarenka will next play ninth seed, Li Na.
Achieving her career best at the event last year, 2010 semi-finalist Li Na dismissed Barbora Strycova in only ninety minutes, securing a 6-2 victory in the first set before
wrapping up her straight sets win with a breadstick win in the second set.
Azarenka and Li Na both enjoy no set loss records so far in the event.
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