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Justine, Serena Set Up Blockbuster Quarterfinal

PARIS, France - From the moment the draw was made, all eyes were on the top section of the draw and a potential quarterfinal battle between two of the most in-form players this season on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. That marquee match-up became a reality Sunday as Justine Henin and Serena Williams won their respective round of 16 matches against dangerous opponents in straight sets.


Williams was the first to advance, playing first on Chatrier, beating Dinara Safina routinely, 62 63. The No.8-seeded Williams was in total control from start to finish against the No.10-seeded Safina, a quarterfinalist here a year ago, breaking serve six times en route to the one-hour, 17-minute victory.


"It was definitely better today; it came together in practice the other day," said Williams, who admitted after earlier rounds that she didn't think she was playing her best. "I knew if I could play the way I practiced, I would do a good job."


Almost as routine was No.1-seeded Henin's 62 64 victory over No.20 seed Sybille Bammer, which, aside from a late surge that saw the Austrian rally back from 4-0 in the second set to even things to 4-all, it was pretty much a rout.


"She started to play better; I lost of a little bit of my intensity and made a couple of mistakes," Henin said on the second set turnaround. "But it was generally a positive match. I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it."


And with that, the match everyone has been waiting for.


"Obviously it has been said since day one - even before I played - Justine was in the quarterfinals if we both made it that far," Williams said on the hype. "Justine's really good here. Usually, I don't like to peak too soon; I bring up the level of my play right around quarters, semis, mainly in the finals."


"Everyone knows how strong Serena is. She's a champion and will never change; and she doesn't have anything to prove to anyone," Henin stated. "I have to be focused on tactics and being mentally strong. I want to win this match and I will give everything I can. But who knows what can happen. That's why tennis is so beautiful, because no one knows what's going to happen on Tuesday."


Both women have shown scratchy form at times thus far this fortnight. Williams dropped the first set of her tournament to Tsvetana Pironkova before winning three rounds in straights; despite not losing a single set, Henin has had an array of large leads vanish in them, including letting go of 5-0 against the young Tamira Paszek in the second round and Sunday's second set hiccup against Bammer.


And if one looks at prior encounters between Henin and Williams, streakiness has definitely played its part, including in their most recent match-up at Miami, where Henin was ahead by a set and 5-4, serving double match point, before a resilient Williams rallied back to win, 06 75 63.


"I should have won that match - I was so close and I was a better player that day; but she came back," Henin said. "Mentally she's been very strong. Maybe I was a bit scared to win that one. That's why she is a champion. It's never over."


"If she's up I think she's going to be thinking, 'I'm not going to count her out,'" Williams said. "And I hope everyone thinks that. But, it's not the finals. We both want to win and we both want to go out and do our best."


The clay courts seem to favor Henin; although Williams is up 6-3 in her career head-to-head with the Belgian, she has lost three of their four match-ups on the dirt, including in the semifinals here at this very event four years ago.


Henin wasn't completely convinced that gave her the edge for Tuesday.


"I'm more confident playing her on clay than grass but Miami is a match I should have won and it was on hard. But things have changed in our lives and in our careers. We've both evolved quite a lot. I can't predict what's going to happen on Tuesday, but I want to be ready, that's for sure."





from: http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/1/newsroom/stories/?ContentID=1408

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