The Hindu : Sport : Henin-Hardenne overcomes stiff challenge from Bremond

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Wednesday, Jul 05, 2006

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Sport

Henin-Hardenne overcomes stiff challenge from Bremond

Nirmal Shekar

Mauresmo, Clijsters and Sharapova ;compelte the semifinal line-up

BELGIAN SEMIFINAL: Kim Clijsters, who ended Na Li's run, will once again be up against compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne in the semifinals. — Photo: AP

London: She is the kind of woman who'd make sure to throw a raincoat into her handbag even when she is stepping out for a bar-be-cue at a friend's place on a gorgeous summer day of clear blue skies.

Justine Henin-Hardenne is not a lady who takes anything for granted — and especially not the good things in life. The Belgian knows all about the random cruelty of fate; she knows, too, about the caprices of a sport that she plays with such joy and success at the highest level.

One-day-at-a-time is a motto that's helped Henin-Hardenne keep her sanity through some of life's hard knocks and it is a principle that she holds dear in her tennis career too.

"It is a long way to go. It's one step at a time," said the three-time French Open champion and third seed, on Tuesday, after making light of the surprisingly substantial challenge posed by the French qualifier Severine Bremond in the women's singles quarterfinals of the 120th Wimbledon championships.

Henin-Hardenne's 6-4, 6-4 victory in an hour and 21 minutes saw the waif-thin Belgian come within two match victories of joining an elite band of players who have won all the four major titles.

But the 5ft 5in five-time Grand Slam champion is too keenly aware of life's slippery slopes to actually bring herself to look that far ahead.

"The last two years have been difficult for me,'' said Henin-Hardenne who contemplated quitting the game two years ago when she was felled by a serious virus infection. "But that (winning Wimbledon) is one of my goals. It is a great challenge."

Her first real test

In the event, it is a challenge that the Belgian has lived up to with great confidence so far in this championship.

Henin-Hardenne had lost just 13 games in four matches going into Tuesday's contest that turned out to be her first real test. "I wasn't feeling well in the beginning of the match," said the French-speaking Belgian who lost in the 2001 Wimbledon final to Venus Williams. "I am happy I fought on every point."

But, then, tenacity is Henin-Hardenne's calling card. For a woman who lost her mother to cancer when she was only 12, and has then had to surmount a series of emotionally draining hurdles to get where she is, adversity on a tennis court is a welcome springboard.

Bremond, unbeaten in seven matches on grass and an aggressive all-court player unafraid to venture up to finish points, battled back after a poor start to stay even with the third seed.

But Henin-Hardenne, discreetly and tidily aggressive herself, broke to 5-4, closed out the set calmly and then found an early break in the second. She was almost home, although her talented French rival made a match of it the rest of the way.

Splicing the sidelines with superb winners and using the backhand slice to make the ball float on air like snowflakes before dying out, Henin-Hardenne cruised home in quick time.

Intriguing match-up

She will play her countrywoman Kim Clijsters, the second seed, in the semifinals. The reigning U.S. champion came back from 2-5 down in the second set to see off the first Chinese woman to figure in a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal match, Li Na, 6-4, 7-5.

By then, Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion and fourth seed, was back home, having disposed of her countrywoman Elena Dementieva 6-1, 6-4 in an hour and 10 minutes.

Sharapova, seeded four, won nine of the first 10 games in a match that had an uninvited visitor in the form of a male streaker early in the second set. But Dementieva staged a brief face saving comeback before the 19-year old megastar staved off two breakpoints to hold to 5-3 and then closed out the match in her next service game.

Standing between the Russian diva and a place in the final is Amelie Mauresmo, the top seed and Australian Open champion. The Frenchwoman had to fight her way past Anastasia Myskina of Russia 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

So much for surprises in women's tennis — seeds one, two, three and four in the semifinals!

Sanam Singh advances

Earlier in the day, in the boys singles event, India's Sanam K. Singh, seeded eight, battled with tremendous courage and skills in the decider to get the better of Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to make the third round.

Serving to stay in the match in the 10th game of the third set, the Spaniard double faulted to go matchpoint down and then hit a forehand long to help his Indian opponent go through.

On Monday evening, India's Mahesh Bhupathi and his Chinese partner Yan Zi, seeded 11, went down 4-6, 1-6 to Bob Bryan and Venus Williams of the United States in a mixed doubles second round match.

But Leander Paes and Samantha Stosur went through to the third round with a 4-6, 6-3, 12-10 victory over Paul Hanley and Tatiana Perebiynis.

THE RESULTS

Prefix indicates seeding

Women's singles (quarterfinals): 4-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Elena Dementieva (Rus) 6-1, 6-4; 3-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel) bt Severine Bremond (Fra) 6-4, 6-4; 2-Kim Clijsters (Bel) bt 27-Li Na (Chn) 6-4, 7-5; 1-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt 9-Anastasia Myskina (Rus) 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

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