Top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne advanced to the Australian Open semifinals with a 7-5, 6-3 win over number five Lindsay Davenport on Tuesday, and fourth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo pulled out of her quarterfinal with torn back muscles.
Henin-Hardenne lost the opening four games before reeling off seven of the next eight to take the first set in 52 minutes on Davenport’s wayward backhand return. The first set featured seven breaks of serve.
”That wasn’t easy. Lindsay was playing unbelievable at the start, I wasn’t ready for that,” said Henin-Hardenne, who won on her third match point when Davenport dumped a backhand into the net.
”I played every point, as best I could. I came back in the set and that give me confidence.
”I did [hit] a lot of winners today, there was no easy points to her.”
Henin-Hardenne had 29 winners, including nine on her backhand, and 22 unforced errors.
Davenport lost only one point in her first two service games but ended with 33 unforced errors as her forehand failed in the long rallies.
Henin-Hardenne, the French Open and US Open champion, next faces 32nd-seeded Fabiola Zuluaga, who got a free pass into the last four when Mauresmo withdrew 90 minutes before their scheduled quarterfinal on Rod Laver Arena.
Zuluaga, the first Colombian woman to reach the quarterfinals at a major, wasn’t bothered by her easy progression.
Mauresmo ”is tough to play, but I can beat her”, said Zuluaga.
”It feels good to be in the semi, but I didn’t want it to be this way the first time. I’d rather play matches than have the rest.”
Mauresmo, injured while stretching for a backhand volley on Sunday against Alicia Molik, had a 10-minute hitting session on Tuesday morning with coach Loic Courteau, then tearfully announced she was withdrawing from the tournament.
”I wanted to try this morning and have a little hit and see how I felt. I have pain. I have to withdraw from this tournament,” she said. ”When I hit some shots, I can feel really strong pain. The other thing is it could get worse if I play. The best thing to do is to rest.”
Courteau said Mauresmo insisted on preparing for the match despite scans showing problems in her back.
”As soon as she went up to the net to volley, it was like a knife thrust in her back,” he said.
The top women are still in the draw, with Belgians Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters still in contention, but number three, four and five are out.
Third-seeded Venus Williams was upset in the third round by American Lisa Raymond, further depleting a draw missing injured defending champion Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati.
Mauresmo and number five Davenport both exited within hours.
Henin-Hardenne had rallied from 1-4 in the third set to win their fourth-round match at Melbourne Park last year. Davenport, the 2000 Australian Open champion, withdrew from their semifinal in a Sydney warmup tournament earlier this month due to a shoulder problem.
Mauresmo has won 10 tournaments but never a Grand Slam. She lost the final in Melbourne in 1999 and has reached at least the quarterfinals of all four majors, although she has been plagued by injuries.
”I was playing some good tennis and I had some opportunities in this tournament — I always play well here,” Mauresmo said. ”But that’s just the way it is, there’s nothing to do about it.”
Mauresmo lost only six games in her opening three matches before Molik took her to 7-5, 7-5.
Zuluaga (25) was off tour for 10 months in 2001 following operations to correct a congenital defect in her right shoulder.
She was 2-5 against Mauresmo, including a first-round win at the Sydney Olympics.
Lleyton Hewitt, Australia’s last hope at the title, went out as fireworks from celebrations for the national day crackled in the background.
Rattled by a foot fault, Hewitt was beaten by Wimbledon champion Roger Federer 3-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 in the fourth round on Monday.
Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis was earlier eliminated 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 by Morocco’s Hicham Arazi.
No Australian has won the home championship since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
Federer next faces number eight David Nalbandian, who beat Guillermo Canas 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 in an all-Argentine match.
Juan Carlos Ferrero twice needed treatment on his upper left leg in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Romania’s Andrei Pavel. The Spaniard does not expect the injury to trouble him.
Among the women, Clijsters, number six Anastasia Myskina, number 22 Patty Schnyder and number 25 Raymond won fourth-round matches on Monday. — Sapa-AP