Henin sails at Aussie Open tennis with 30th straight win Wed 16 Jan, 02:59 AM MELBOURNE (AFP) - World number one and top seed Justine Henin eased into the Australian Open third round Wednesday, holding off a late challenge from Russia's Olga Poutchkova to advance 6-1, 7-5. The Belgian came out firing to take the first set 6-1 but Poutchkova finally hit her straps in the second and forced Henin to work for her 30th straight victory. "I lacked a little bit of intensity at the end of the match, she really pushed me, she played well and took her chances, so it was tough at the end," Henin said. "I never like to play players I don't know, they always go for it, they're playing the number one player in the world and they have nothing to lose." Poutchkova initially appeared overawed at sharing a court with the seven-time Grand Slam winner but bounced back to turn the opening game of the second set into an 11-minute arm wrestle before Henin prevailed. Henin had the chance to serve out the match at 5-2 but Poutchkova, growing in confidence, held on against her illustrious opponent. With the Melbourne Park crowd cheering her on, Poutchkova then went on to save two match points and level the set at 5-5. Henin said she expected a tricky third round tie against Italian 25th seed Francesca Schiavone, but was growing in confidence with every appearance at Melbourne Park. "Day after day I feel better and against Schiavone it's going to be a tough round," she said. ================================================= Henin stumbles into third round Wed 16 Jan, 04:45 AM MELBOURNE (Reuters) - World number one Justine Henin struggled into the Australian Open third round with a 6-1 7-5 victory over Russian Olga Poutchkova on Wednesday. After winning the first set in just 22 minutes, the Belgian top seed looked to be on the way to setting up a match against Italy's Francesca Schiavone in under an hour. Russian Poutchkova, however, finally woke up and although she struggled to hold her own serve, she broke Henin three times in the second set and saved three match points before the Belgian wrapped up victory in 83 minutes. "I was well into the match and played very aggressive and I did a good job in the first (set) ...then I lost a little bit of the intensity, a little bit of the rhythm on my serve," Henin told reporters. The tall Russian, who appeared lethargic in the first set, forced five break points in the first game of the second, though was unable to convert them as Henin battled back with her trademark powerful groundstrokes. Poutchkova immediately lost serve but had her opponent in trouble again with three break points in the third game and a Henin double fault enabled her to convert one. Neither player could hold serve before Henin established a 5-2 lead and the U.S. Open champion had a match point in the next game, which she failed to convert. The Russian saved two more match points in the 10th game and held serve to even the set at 5-5 before Henin held then made no mistake on her fourth match point opportunity when Poutchkova's backhand sailed over the baseline. "When she came back at five-all I understood it was time to push myself a little bit more," said Henin, the 2004 Australian Open champion. "I know in the next round it's going to be a good match for me to push myself and really come to another level." 幸好只是注意力不集中 希望沒其他問題 加油~Justine~ --

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