Happy Henin breezes past Cravero

Justine Henin, who claimed she had never been so happy in her life, had a broad smile and a thumbs-up for the crowd on Court One after she took just 55 minutes to dismiss the plucky challenge of world number 117 Jorgelina Cravero of Argentina.

As the sun finally shone on Wimbledon’s opening day, top seed Henin came back out on court just before 7pm following a rain break of 90 minutes to post a 6-3 6-0 success and took her first step towards winning the only Grand Slam that has eluded her.

South American Cravero put up early resistance which showed why she is having the best season of her career so far.

But as Henin, 25, gradually unfurled the wide range of shots which have made her French Open champion three years in a row, Cravero inevitably succumbed to a string of errors as well.

Cravero was unable to retrieve a break at 2-4 in the first set.

Then she made her first really glaring mistake, netting an easy volley, to give Henin a break point at the start of the second set. Then she compounded it with a double fault.

That was the beginning of the end and after a promising start it proved a chastening finish for Cravero.

Henin did offer her a glimmer of hope, rushing a couple of returns, but then coolly saw off the break-point danger which they produced and built a 5-0 lead with the help of a searing ace – her fourth of the match – followed by a majestic overhead backhand.

Cravero then surrendered her serve for a third time in the set as Henin clinically got the job done with some punishing strokes.