Henin-Hardenne out

Top seed and defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium became the highest-seeded player at this year’s US Open to lose as she was knocked out by Russia’s Nadia Petrova.

Henin-Hardenne was sent packing by the 14th seed 6-3 6-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. While Henin-Hardenne failed to get out of the fourth round, fifth seed Lindsay Davenport won the clash of the former American US Open champions as she overcame stubborn resistance by 11th seed Venus Williams.

Henin-Hardenne and Petrova had to wait two hours longer than expected to get their match underway. With men’s top seed Roger Federer gaining a walkover in his scheduled evening match due to an injury to Andrei Pavel, US Open officials shifted the mixed doubles encounter with Martina Navratilova and Leander Paes against Maria Sharapova and Max Mirnyi from the Armstrong court to fill out the evening program on the main show court.

The two-hour delay as Navratilova and Paes prevailed did neither Henin-Hardenne or Petrova any favours as both started nervously in an error-strewn first set. Both players dropped their first two service games before Petrova finally held her serve to take a 3-2 lead. And while the Russian settled into a groove, Henin-Hardenne continued to struggle.

The Belgian, who had struggled for much of the summer with a viral illness before capturing gold at the Olympics in August, was broken at 4-3 down following a terrible shot and it was another error in the next game which handed Petrova the first set at 6-3 after 44 minutes.

Henin-Hardenne was in trouble again when she was broken in the third and seventh games of the second set to let Petrova serve for the match at 5-2. The Belgian showed her spirit to survive three match points as Petrova wavered but the Russian regained her cool and served out the match with an ace.

Petrova will now play a quarter-final against friend and compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova, the ninth seed who defeated 27th seed Mary Pierce 7-6 (7/5) 6-2.

Davenport, the 1998 title-holder, won in straight sets against 2000 and 2001 champion Williams 7-5 6-4, but it was anything but a straightforward victory for the 28-year-old.

The first break in the opening set did not come until the 11th game, leaving Davenport to serve out for the set after 54 minutes.

The second set was no cakewalk either and Davenport was made to work hard serving for the match at 5-4. Williams took the game to deuce nine times before finally cracking on the fifth match point.

Davenport will face Shinobu Asagoe of Japan, who advanced to her first Grand Slam quarter-final by defeating 29th seed Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 7-6 (7/4) 4-6 6-3.

While Federer did not have to break a sweat to reach the men’s quarter-finals, Tim Henman again had to work long and hard to get there, the first time he done so at the US Open.

The fifth seed from Britain, Henman won his third five-set match of the tournament, defeating Nicolas Kiefer of Germany in a match lasting three hours and 41 minutes.

Henman was leading 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 6-1 6-7 (4/7) 3-0, when the 19th seed was forced to quit due to a wrist injury, later diagnosed as a light tendon tear which will keep the German sidelined for three to six weeks.

The US Open was the only Grand Slam in which Federer had not reached the quarter-finals. The world number one from Switzerland learned he had advanced when Pavel, the 16th seed, defaulted his night match hours before the scheduled start.

Pavel was forced out with a herniated disk in his lower back, which he sustained in the fifth set of a third-round victory over Hyung-Taik Lee of Korea.

Federer will now face 34-year-old Andre Agassi, who needed just 90 minutes to defeat close friend Sargis Sargsian of Armenia 6-3 6-2 6-2.

“I never expect to win that way,” Agassi said of the lopsided result.

“Matches have a tendency to look that way rather than feel that way. I just wanted to take care of business.”

Agassi coasted to a 6-3 6-2 6-2 win and has dropped only one set in the tournament. Sargsian, who survived five-set marathons totalling more than 10 hours over his last two matches, never challenged Agassi, his occasional practice partner.

Hrbaty moved into his first US Open quarter-final by rallying past Olivier Rochus of Belgium 2-6 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-0.