The Hindu : Sport : Justine Henin moves into last eight

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Justine Henin moves into last eight

Mahesh Bhupathi-Radek Stepanek enter quarterfinals

— Photo: AFP

FOCUSSED: Justine Henin lines up a return against Anna-Lena Groenefeld in their WTA J&S Cup second round match on Thursday.

WARSAW: Top-ranked Justine Henin and fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic recorded straight-set wins on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the J&S Cup.

Henin beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-1, 6-2, while Jankovic topped Elena Vesnina 6-2, 7-5.

The Belgian, playing for the first time since losing to Serena Williams in three sets at the Sony Ericsson Open last month, had little trouble against the 21-year-old Groenefeld.

Henin broke the German to open the match, then watched a Groenefeld forehand sail long to break again for the first set.

The second set was almost a repeat of the first. Henin earned an early break, jumped to a 5-2 lead before Groenefeld double-faulted twice in a row to end the match.

Jankovic — who won the Family Circle Cup last month to advance to No. 7, her highest world ranking — also experienced little difficulty with Vesnina.

Not enough training

French qualifier Olivier Patience upset World No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 6-1 in a rain-delayed first round match at the Estoril Open on Wednesday.

``It's my fault because I didn't train enough,'' said Davydenko, who won at Estoril in 2003 and lost in last year's final.

The match was stopped on Tuesday because of rain after only two games. Last week, Davydenko retired with a wrist injury before his quarterfinal in Barcelona.

Third-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Santiago Ventura of Spain 6-2, 6-2 in a 56-minute second-round match to reach the quarterfinals.

Top-seeded Marion Bartoli of France reached the quarterfinals of the women's event by beating Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-3, 6-3. Third-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic also advanced, beating Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

In Munich, unseeded German Alexander Waske beat compatriot Daniel Brands 7-6, 7-6 to advance to the quarterfinals of the $416,000 Munich Open on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, unseeded Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic breezed into the doubles quarterfinals of with a 6-4, 6-2 win over the local pair of Benjamin Becker and Christopher Kas.

The results: At Estoril (Estoril Open): Men: Second round: Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Igor Kunitsyn 6-2, 6-1; Novak Djokovic bt Santiago Ventura 6-2, 6-2; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez bt Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-3; Richard Gasquet bt Frederico Gil 6-1, 6-2; Vince Spadea bt Olivier Patience 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. First round: Tommy Robredo bt Albert Montanes 6-4, 6-3; Olivier Patience bt Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 6-1.

Women: Second round: Marion Bartoli bt Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-3, 6-3; Lucie Safarova bt Anastasia Yakimova 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Gisela Dulko bt Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 3-6, 6-1; Viktoria Azarenka bt Francesco Schiavone 6-2, 6-2.

At Munich (BMW Open): Second round: Alexander Waske bt Daniel Brands 7-6(5), 7-6(5); Marcos Baghdatis bt Matthias Bachinger 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-4; Mikhail Youzhny bt Benjamin Becker 7-6(4), 7-6(3); Jurgen Melzer bt Raemon Sluiter 5-7, 6-1, 6-2; Sebastien Grosjean bt Martin Vassallo Arquello 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Jarkko Nieminen 6-1, 6-4. Doubles: Mahesh Bhupathi-Radek Stepanek bt Benjamin Becker-Christopher Kas 6-4, 6-2.

At Warsaw (J&S Cup): Second round: Justine Henin bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-1, 6-2; Jelena Jankovic bt Elena Vesnina 6-2, 7-5; Alona Bondarenko bt Agnieska Radwanska 0-6, 6-4, 6-3; Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Katerina Bondarenko 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. — Agencies

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