MELBOURNE, Australia - Top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, saving a set point in a 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) victory over qualifier Mara Santangelo.
The 21-year-old Belgian star set up a quarterfinal match with 2000 champion Lindsay Davenport. She took the last eight points in her 6-1, 6-3 win over 11th-seeded Vera Zvonareva.
Fourth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo was the first player to reach the quarterfinals, beating Alicia Molik 7-5, 7-5. Mauresmo faces Fabiola Zuluaga, who beat Aniko Kapros 6-4, 6-2.
After racing through the first set in 28 minutes, Henin-Hardenne started making mistakes on her backhand and dropping serve to trail 1-3. She saved four break points in the seventh game and a set point in the 10th before breaking to tie at 5.
Santangelo held serve to force the tiebreaker. She fell behind 4-1 but rallied to tie at 4.
Henin-Hardenne regained control, ending the match with a forehand pass that just clipped the line. She finished with 24 winners and 29 unforced errors.
Davenport didn't give Zvonareva a chance to break her serve and converted both her chances in the second set to finish in 47 minutes. Zvonareva made six of her 24 unforced errors in the last two games.
"It was such a fast match, it kind of surprised me. She helped me out with a few unforced errors in the beginning," Davenport said.
Davenport and Henin-Hardenne played for 31/4 hours in last year's quarterfinals. Henin-Hardenne rallied from 1-4 in the third set and serious cramps to win 7-5, 5-7, 9-7 and advance to the semifinals.
After that, she won the French and U.S. opens.
"That was quite a match, and I'm looking forward to playing her again," Davenport said. "She's a much different player now: No.1 in the world, two Grand Slams. But if I play like I did today and take some chances, who knows?
"Right now I'm feeling great and excited to be back in the quarters."
Mauresmo struggled to beat Molik after losing six games and spending less than three hours on the court in her first three matches.
"It was a very tough match, obviously she gave me a lot of trouble," Mauresmo said. "I just really wanted to go through this one and go to the quarters."
Mauresmo, a finalist in 1999, missed the tournament last year because of injuries.
"I'm happy to be back here. I was injured last year, it was so frustrating to watch on TV," said Mauresmo, adding she had some pain in her back against Molik.
"I'm going to go for treatment and make sure everything is okay for the quarterfinals."
With the victory, Mauresmo is assured of breaking into the top three for the first time when the next WTA Tour rankings are released. Her career high was No. 4 in October 2002.
In the third round, French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis advanced. Tim Henman, seeded 11th, led by two sets before losing 6-7 (5-7), 5-7, 7-6 (6-3), 7-5, 9-7 to Guillermo Canas. No.14 Jiri Novak lost to Andrei Pavel, and No.26 Albert Costa to Hicham Arazi.
DOUBLES TROUBLE: The world's best doubles players - American twins Bob and Mike Bryan - had a scare in the second round.
They dropped the first set in a tiebreaker and were down a service break in the second against Martin Garcia and Sebastien Prieto.
But the Bryans, who won five of eight titles on the ATP Tour last year, came back for a 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (6-3), 6-0 victory, including a service break in the second set when Garcia and Prieto were serving for the match.
