Tennis

Henin cruises to victory on 25th birthday

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-06-02 15:22

Justine Henin, celebrating her 25th birthday in her favourite playground, advanced to the last 16 of the French Open with a 6-2 6-3 win over Italy's Mara Santangelo on Friday.

The world number one, chasing a fourth title here in five years, was never troubled in a third-round match against the 31st-ranked Santangelo that finished just before darkness fell.

But Henin said it was not as easy as the scoreline suggested.

"I wasn't feeling that well, I was cramping a little bit and had stomach problems. I just tried to fight for every point," she told reporters.

"I'm happy the match is over, that we could finish it tonight."

Both players looked clumsy at first and had traded early breaks when Henin managed the telling one in the sixth game.

Two games later Henin captured her opponent's serve again, wrapping up the set with a backhand pass.

The Belgian broke the 25-year-old Santangelo straight away in the second set. The Italian broke back but her resistance soon faded as she dropped three games in a row.

With the Centre Court crowd chanting "Happy birthday", Henin sealed victory when her opponent fired a forehand long on the first match point.

"That was really nice," she said of the fans' gesture. "It's an important day. I'm 25, that's a quarter of a century. I've had a busy life so far but I've loved every minute of it."

Henin, bidding to become the first woman since Monica Seles in 1992, and only the second in the professional era, to win the title in three successive years, next faces Austria's Sybille Bammer.

Bammer took a break from tennis to give birth to daughter Tina in 2001.

"I know her daughter because she often brings her along," Henin said. "That's pretty unusual but it's nice."