TNT Sports
Back to basics
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Published 01/09/2005 at 17:13 GMT+1
Far from perfect, but job done. Justine Henin-Hardenne may be wise to head to the practice court to amend a service action that leaked eight double faults in a below par second round performance for the 2003 U.S. Open champion over Maria Sanchez Lorenzo o
Eurosport
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The 6-3 6-4 victory for Henin-Hardenne, the seventh seed, may sound routine, but on Arthur Ashe Court her coach Carlos Rodriguez and husband Pierre-Yves were left scratching their heads.
The 2003 champion lost her opening service game before taking control against Sanchez Lorenzo, the world number 99, with some trademark backhand flourishes.
Henin-Hardenne seemed to be cruising when she led 4-1 in the second set but allowed Sanchez Lorenzo back as her unforced errors count headed to a final tally of 22.
The French Open winner converted four of 11 break point opportunities in the one-hour 20-minute victory.
"I had little ups and downs but a lot of good things," said the Belgian afterwards. "I have to be more focused in my next match."
In round three the Belgian will play Cho Yoon-jeong of South Korea who upset Argentine 27th seed Gisela Dulko 6-4 6-3.
DAVENPORT IN A RUSH
Meanwhile, world number one Lindsay Davenport hammered 19-year-old qualifier Pauline Parmentier of France 6-1 6-1, hitting 21 winners and six aces and in the 45-minute examination.
The American got only 49 percent of her first serves in and made 19 unforced errors, only one less than the French teenager, who is ranked 253.
"It has been very tricky with the wind," said 29-year-old Davenport.
"Today I felt like I stepped it up a little bit better and was more consistent."
Davenport, the 1998 U.S. Open winner and runner-up this year at the Australian Open and Wimbledon championships, will next play Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, a 6-4 7-5 winner over China's Sun Tiantian.
THURSDAY WRAP-UP
Sixth seed and last year's runner-up Elena Dementieva of Russia beat Argentina's Mariana Diaz-Oliva 7-5 6-1, despite serving 11 double-faults. This year's French Open runner-up Mary Pierce, seeded 12, was a 6-3 6-2 winner over Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik.
Russian 13th seed Anastasia Myskina, the 2004 French Open champion, breezed past Amy Frazier of United States 6-3 6-2.
French 15th seed, Nathalie Dechy, a semi-finalist at this year's Australian Open, thrashed Vania King of the United States 6-1 6-1.
Serbia and Montenegro's Jelena Jankovic, Henin-Hardenne's possible fourth round opponent, also advanced with a 6-2 6-0 thrashing of lanky 15-year-old American Alexa Glatch.
Other seeds safely through to round three included, 19th-ranked Russian Elena Likhovtseva, a 6-2 6-1 victor over Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria.
Compatriot Anna Chakvetadze, seeded 29th, knocked out veteran American Jill Craybas 6-0 6-2.
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