Henin survives the unknown

Just two years ago Justine Henin was the up-and-coming player tilting at the top stars of the women’s game.

But today the 20-year-old Belgian found herself in the firing line and lived to tell the tale with her Wimbledon hopes intact after seeing off the challenge of 17-year-old qualifier Myriam Casanova, the latest of the new wave of tennis starlets.

The sixth seed came through 6-4 6-4 but not without difficulty against a hard-hitting young player she had never seen in her life before.

‘‘I didn’t know anything about this player. She was hitting the ball so hard, so it was sometimes difficult to find rhythm.

‘‘It’s hard when someone is hitting like that. You don’t have a lot of rallies so it was difficult because it was a winner and then three mistakes. She gave everything she had, she had nothing to lose.’’

Henin recalled how not so long ago she was the newcomer causing upsets.

She said: ‘‘I was in this kind of situation two years ago when I had to play in the French Open against Lindsay Davenport and lost 7-5 in the third.

‘‘That was my first close match against a top player - a long way since that.’’

The sturdy Casanova, who accounted for 29th seed Barbara Schett in the previous round, briefly threatened to take Henin into a deciding set after wiping out the Belgian’s break in the opening game of the second set to level at 4-4.

But Henin drew on the experience which took her all the way to the Wimbledon final against champion Venus Williams last year to quickly snuff out the challenge.

‘‘When she broke back at 4-3 to go four-all I stayed calm. Then it finished very quickly. I played good, broke again and just kept my serve so that was good.’’

But Henin fully expects the challenges from aspiring youngsters to increase as the strength in depth in the women’s game continues to improve.

‘‘It’s hard, a qualifier in the third one. It happens more often now. You have to play on Centre Court against a young player who’s coming up.

‘‘I think in the next months we will see a lot more of these kind of players. It’s going to be more difficult.’’

Henin is not yet prepared to speculate on her chances of emulating - or improving on - last year’s performance which made her the first Belgian ever to reach a Wimbledon singles final.

Next up is 12th seed Elena Dementieva, of Russia, who beat 1997 French Open champion Iva Majoli in the third round.

‘‘It’s going to be a tough match because Elena is a top player and she’s also hitting the ball hard. She’s in the top 15, she’s a young player, she will have nothing to lose, also.

‘‘She’s playing very fast, especially on grass, so it’s going to be a difficult match.’’