Henin sails at Aussie Open tennis with 30th straight win - 網球

Henin sails at Aussie Open tennis with 30th straight win

Wed 16 Jan, 02:59 AM

MELBOURNE (AFP) - World number one and top seed Justine Henin eased into the
Australian Open third round Wednesday, holding off a late challenge from
Russia's Olga Poutchkova to advance 6-1, 7-5.

The Belgian came out firing to take the first set 6-1 but Poutchkova finally
hit her straps in the second and forced Henin to work for her 30th straight
victory.

"I lacked a little bit of intensity at the end of the match, she really pushed
me, she played well and took her chances, so it was tough at the end," Henin
said.

"I never like to play players I don't know, they always go for it, they're
playing the number one player in the world and they have nothing to lose."

Poutchkova initially appeared overawed at sharing a court with the seven-time
Grand Slam winner but bounced back to turn the opening game of the second set
into an 11-minute arm wrestle before Henin prevailed.

Henin had the chance to serve out the match at 5-2 but Poutchkova, growing in
confidence, held on against her illustrious opponent.

With the Melbourne Park crowd cheering her on, Poutchkova then went on to save
two match points and level the set at 5-5.

Henin said she expected a tricky third round tie against Italian 25th seed
Francesca Schiavone, but was growing in confidence with every appearance at
Melbourne Park.

"Day after day I feel better and against Schiavone it's going to be a tough
round," she said.





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Henin stumbles into third round

Wed 16 Jan, 04:45 AM


MELBOURNE (Reuters) - World number one Justine Henin struggled into the
Australian Open third round with a 6-1 7-5 victory over Russian Olga Poutchkova
on Wednesday.

After winning the first set in just 22 minutes, the Belgian top seed looked to
be on the way to setting up a match against Italy's Francesca Schiavone in
under an hour.

Russian Poutchkova, however, finally woke up and although she struggled to hold
her own serve, she broke Henin three times in the second set and saved three
match points before the Belgian wrapped up victory in 83 minutes.

"I was well into the match and played very aggressive and I did a good job in
the first (set) ...then I lost a little bit of the intensity, a little bit of
the rhythm on my serve," Henin told reporters.

The tall Russian, who appeared lethargic in the first set, forced five break
points in the first game of the second, though was unable to convert them as
Henin battled back with her trademark powerful groundstrokes.

Poutchkova immediately lost serve but had her opponent in trouble again with
three break points in the third game and a Henin double fault enabled her to
convert one. Neither player could hold serve before Henin established a 5-2
lead and the U.S. Open champion had a match point in the next game, which she
failed to convert.

The Russian saved two more match points in the 10th game and held serve to
even the set at 5-5 before Henin held then made no mistake on her fourth match
point opportunity when Poutchkova's backhand sailed over the baseline.

"When she came back at five-all I understood it was time to push myself a
little bit more," said Henin, the 2004 Australian Open champion.

"I know in the next round it's going to be a good match for me to push myself
and really come to another level."






幸好只是注意力不集中
希望沒其他問題
加油~Justine~

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