Sharapova knocks Henin out in Melbourne
Updated: 2008-01-23 09:45
MELBOURNE, Australia - Serena Williams stumbled one round short of a rematch, so Maria Sharapova had to unload a year's worth of retribution on somebody else. Justine Henin caught the brunt of it.
 Russia's Maria Sharapova reacts during her quarter-finals match against Belgium's Justine Henin at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 22, 2008. [Agencies] |
Sharapova advanced to the Australian Open semifinals for the fourth straight year with a convincing 6-4, 6-0 win over top-ranked Henin, snapping the Belgian star's 32-match winning streak.
"Even though I beat Justine, it's definitely not over," the 20-year-old Russian star said. "I still have a lot of business to take care of."
Defending champion Williams had slumped 6-3, 6-4 earlier in the afternoon to third-ranked Jelena Jankovic, who reached the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the first time and only the third time in a major.
Williams was unseeded and ranked No. 81 when she made her stunning run to an eighth Grand Slam title 12 months ago, punctuating that with an emphatic 6-1, 6-2 win over Sharapova in one of the most lopsided Grand Slam finals.
It was a big setback for Sharapova, who struggled with a shoulder problem for most of the season and her ranking slipped outside the top 5.
But the winner of two Grand Slam events started returning to her best at the WTA championships in November before losing in three sets to Henin in three hours, 24 minutes among the dozen longest women's tour matches in the Open era.
She turned the tables in only 1:38 on Tuesday, inflicting the first 6-0 set on Henin since 2002.
 Belgium's Justine Henin reacts as she plays Russia's Maria Sharapova during their Women's singles quarter final match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008. [Agencies] |
"I really felt like I was in a bubble," Sharapova said. "I think it was one of the most consistent matches where I did all the things I wanted to do, and I did them correctly from the beginning to the end ... and just played the way I can play."
Henin, who struggled with her serve and was broken five times by Sharapova, said she had a minor concern over a lingering knee injury but put the loss down as an inevitability.
"It's very hard to be at your best level all the time," she said. "I'll have to think about that and build again for the future."
Sharapova will be looking back for lessons to take into the semis against Jankovic, her old tennis academy pal.
"Ever since the juniors we've always played really tough and we've always battled it out, and it's great to see her in the semis," Sharapova said. "It's great we're playing together."
Jankovic has two Serbian compatriots in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
No. 4-ranked Ana Ivanovic is aiming to end the run of another Williams when she plays Serena's sister, Venus, for the right to meet the winner of the other quarterfinal between No. 9 Daniela Hantuchova and No. 29 Agnieszka Radwanska.
On the men's side, Serbia's Novak Djokovic plays David Ferrer of Spain and defending champion Roger Federer go against No. 12 James Blake.
Blake is 0-7 against Federer, who beat him in the 2006 U.S. Open quarterfinals.
But he's taking heart from Federer's last two matches, when he was taken to 10-8 in the fifth set against Serbia's Janko Tisparevic and had to save set points against Tomas Berdych.
No. 2 Rafael Nadal, the only player to beat Federer at the last 10 Grand Slams, advanced to his first Australian Open semifinal with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 24 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.
"Maybe I wasn't playing my best match, my best tennis today, but it was enough," the three-time French Open champion said. "It's a good moment for me, first semifinals on hardcourt, Grand Slam."
He will play 22-year-old Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-0, 7-6 (6) late Tuesday.
The 38th-ranked Tsonga has only played four previous majors due to a combination of back, shoulder and abdominal injuries and never won a title at the elite level, but has already upset No. 9 Andy Murray and No. 8 Richard Gasquet so far at Melbourne Park.
"It's just amazing. I played just unbelievable," Tsonga said. "It's a very big event. It's very difficult to stay on this world."
Serena Williams was that ecstatic last year after her amazing run.
Despite being in better physical condition this time around, she still could not go beyond the quarters for the fourth consecutive major.
Williams looked sluggish and her serve misfired against Jankovic, contributing to seven service breaks.
She had time to reflect on the singles loss when she combined with Venus in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 doubles quarterfinal loss to Chinese pair Yan Zi and Zheng Jie.
"I think that I went crazy, maybe, and I made a lot of mistakes. I didn't really play the game I wanted to play," Williams said, adding that she had some physical issues she didn't want to elaborate on. "I don't like to make excuses. We won't discuss those."
Williams did not seem to possess the same aggressiveness she used to overcome match points in early rounds last year and beat six seeded players en route to the 2007 title.
Instead, she was constantly angry with herself and even got a code violation for smashing her racket.
"My shots just weren't right," Williams said. "I didn't move the way I want to move, and I wasn't feeling 100 percent. But as an athlete, some days you have to win feeling 30 percent.
"I'm not going to sit here and make excuses - I lost because Jelena played better than me and I made too many errors - I think regardless, the match was on my racket, and I gave it away."
Jankovic has been hampered by a thigh problem since helping Serbia to the Hopman Cup final, where it lost to the Serena Williams-led United States.
She needed treatment during her first-round match here, when she had to save three match points, and again in the second set Tuesday.
"I'm like a wounded animal. I still keep going," she said, adding for emphasis that she had a point to prove following a fourth-round loss to Williams here last year.
"Getting revenge, it feels so good," Jankovic said. "I came out very strong, and I was going for my shots ... and that's how I hurt my opponent."
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