Henin coasts to victory

Top seed Justine Henin powered into the last 16 of the US Open today as she opened third-round play at the Arthur Ashe Stadium with an easy victory over Russian qualifier Ekaterina Makarova.

The three-time reigning French Open champion from Belgium clinically dispatched Makarova in just 50 minutes in a resounding 6-0 6-2 win.

Henin wrapped up the first set in 18 minutes against a clearly nervous Makarova, who had upset 28th seed Ai Sugiyama in the second round.

By the time the Russian managed to gain a little composure it was too late to halt the Henin charge. Makarova got a big cheer in the fourth game of the second set when she sent a forehand down the line that was too good for Henin and delivered her first game of the match at 3-1.

She managed to hold her serve again but not a third time. Makarova went 0-40 down and showed spirit to get back to deuce but Henin was not going to be denied, securing victory on a double fault.

Henin will now face either 15th-seeded Russian Dinara Safina or unseeded American Ahsha Rolle in the fourth round.

The other two women to win Grand Slams this year are in action on Friday and they look to have considerably harder tasks ahead of them than Henin faced.

Australian Open champion and eighth seed Serena Williams meets number 27 Vera Zvonareva of Russia and Wimbledon title holder and 12th seed Venus Williams faces Alona Bondarenko, ranked 21st, in the featured night match.

Either Serena Williams, who looked shaky at times in her second-round win over Italian Maria Elena Camerin, or Zvonareva will play the winner of the match between 10th-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli and 20th seed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.