Henin rolls into fourth round in Flushing
By: Import User
Updated: August 31, 2007
Former champion and 2006 runner-up Justine Henin was an easy third-round winner Friday at the U.S. Open.
The top-seeded/world No. 1 Henin brushed aside 19-year-old Russian qualifier Ekaterina Makarova 6-0, 6-2 at Ashe Stadium on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Henin prevailed on her fourth match point after 50 minutes of uneventful tennis.
The Belgian Henin was last year's U.S. Open runner-up to Russian superstar Maria Sharapova and titled here back in 2003. The six-time major champ is the reigning French Open titlist and has appeared in the final in five of her last six Grand Slam events. She skipped this year's Australian Open after appearing in all four major finals a year ago and captured her third straight and fourth overall French Open title back in June.
Up next for the high-flying Henin will be 15th-seeded Russian slugger Dinara Safina, who handled upstart American wild card Ahsha Rolle 6-4, 6-3 on Day 5 here. Safina is the younger sister of men's star Marat Safin.
French Open finalist Ana Ivanovic eased into the round of 16 by handling Russian Vera Dushevina 6-1, 6-3. The Serbian Ivanovic, seeded fifth here, gave way to Henin in this year's Roland Garros finale and landed in the semifinals at
Former U.S. Open runner-up Elena Dementieva came up a loser on Friday, as 19th-seeded Austrian lefthander Sybille Bammer leveled the 14th-seeded Russian 6-1, 6-2. The two-time major finalist Dementieva lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the 2004 all-Russian finale here. The 27-year-old Bammer, who is the mother of a six-year-old daughter, has been enjoying her best-ever year on the WTA Tour.
