World No.1 Justine Henin has become the first woman to book her spot in the quarter finals, hammering Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Su-Wei 6-2 6-2.
Henin, the 2004 champion, was not at her very best, but packed enough power to book a spot in the final eight in 74 minutes. The defeat ends the brave run of Hsieh, who won through three rounds of qualifying and three rounds of the tournament proper. It is her career-best effort at a Grand Slam.
After an early exchange of breaks, Henin grabbed another in the fifth game of the first set, and then another in the seventh, racing away to a one-set advantage after 35 minutes.
The second set wasn't as one-sided. After breaking the world No.158 in the first game, Henin then struggled to hold her own serve in the second.
She eventually maintained her advantage and then raced to a 5-0 lead with two more breaks. Serving for the match, Henin had two match points, but Hsieh's tenacity won out as she took a break back. The underdog then held serve for the first time in the set and had two break points on Henin in the next game.
However, Henin had all the answers, setting up a third match point with a winner before a Hsieh error handed her the match. Henin's next opponent will be either No.5 seed Maria Sharapova or No.11 seed Elena Dementieva. .
