Henin-Hardenne through to semis

Justine Henin-Hardenne defeated Lindsay Davenport 6-4 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium to advance to the US Open semi-finals and eliminate the last American in the women’s draw.

The second seed and 2003 champion, Henin-Hardenne had lost her first five career meetings against Davenport but has won the last seven. One of those came in the New Haven final on August 26, when she held a 6-0 1-0 lead over Davenport before the Californian retired with a shoulder strain.

In this meeting, the Belgian recorded the lone break of the first set in the eighth game before falling behind, 3-1, in the second. But she immediately broke back in the fifth game, then did so again in the ninth before closing out the match to love.

The 10th seed and 1998 champion, Davenport may have played her final US Open match. The 30-year-old has been bothered by injuries all season and has talked of retirement.

“I don’t know,” Davenport said when asked if this was her last US Open. “I have no idea. Twelve months is obviously a long time away, but at this point I have no idea.”

Henin-Hardenne will meet 19th-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the semi-finals. Jankovic routed fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva 6-2 6-1 in what was the only singles match completed on Tuesday because of steady rain.

In the top half of the draw, top seed Amelie Mauresmo of France rolled into the semi-finals with a 6-2 6-3 rout of 12th-seeded Russian Dinara Safina at Armstrong.

Mauresmo, who broke through for her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open and added another at Wimbledon, matched her best showing at Flushing Meadows with a 62-minute dismissal of Safina, who was playing just her second major quarter-final.

Safina, who lost serve all four times in the first set and once in the second, admitted to having trouble adjusting to the big stage.

“I understood what I had to do, but I couldn’t handle my nerves,” Safina said. “They were stronger than me. They took control over me.”

Mauresmo, who won the final four games in a 6-4 0-6 6-2 victory over Serena Williams in the fourth round, next plays Maria Sharapova.

The third-seeded Russian beat 27th-seeded Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-0) in an error-strewn match riddled with service breaks.

“It’s good the way it went, really, and the way I’ve played,” Mauresmo said. “I did three sets yesterday and three sets the match before (against Italian Mara Santangelo).

“It’s good to be able to be in control, feel good on the court and really get a good rhythm.”