Henin into quarter finals after titanic struggle

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE made it the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after she and Lindsay Davenport ran each other to a standstill in a whole-hearted and dramatic fourth-round match at the Rod Laver Arena.

In the end it was the Belgian, in obvious pain from cramps and blisters, who literally picked herself off the floor to find the crucial forehand that clinched the rollercoaster, three-and-a-quarter-hour encounter 7-5 5-7 9-7. Both exhausted players received a lengthy and deserved standing ovation from the 15,000 crowd who had sat enthralled as Davenport and then Henin-Hardenne fought back from the brink. "To win this kind of match is great because it's great for my experience, for my confidence," said the Belgian.

Henin-Hardenne is now up against unseeded Virginia Ruano Pascual in the last eight after the Spaniard reached only her second Grand Slam quarter-final but first since the 1995 French Open with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Denisa Chladkova.

The winner of that quarter-final match will then face either seventh seed Daniela Hantuchova or four-times Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, who had to battle past defiant Australian Nicole Pratt.

The tournament's second seed eventually raised the bar just enough to win through with a 6-3 6-2 victory that was far closer than the scoreline suggests. Williams holds the mental edge heading into the quarter-final with Hantuchova, having beaten her in the third round here last year.

Hantuchova secured her last-eight place with a 7-5 6-3 victory over Swiss number 12 seed Patty Schnyder.

In the men's singles, fourth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero felt he played the "complete match" against 18-year-old Croatian Mario Ancic today and rates himself among the genuine contenders for the Australian Open title.

The Spaniard, who had never previously reached the quarter-finals at any Grand Slam event bar the French Open, blazed into the last eight with a 6-0 6-3 6-2 victory in just an hour and 41 minutes. And to give him further confidence heading into his clash with Wayne Ferreira, he felt no negative reaction to the thigh injury that had required anti-inflammatories ahead of the third-round battle with Fabrice Santoro.

He will have to be mentally and physically ready to face South African veteran Ferreira, who prevailed in four sets 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-3 against Sargis Sargsian. Andre Agassi progressed to the quarters after Argentinian opponent Guillermo Coria had to pull out because of a painful blister with the number two seed leading 6-3 3-1.

Agassi said: "The fact you are out here playing such a great tournament and prestigious event, centre court, all the people there, you want to push yourself, you want to feel the energy of starting a match and figuring it out and closing it. I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision for him (Coria). It's never good."

Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean battled for three hours 37 minutes to beat Felix Mantilla in five sets, 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-3 6-3.