Top seed Justine Henin-Hardenne advanced into the semifinal round, beating former world number one Lindsay Davenport, seeded tenth, 6-4, 6-4, in one hour and twenty-eight minutes in their match at the US Open quarterfinals in Flushing Meadows, New York.   Davenport, the last American standing in the women’s singles, tried to keep Henin-Hardenne’s charge at bay by running the Belgian around and coming to the net more often. However, Henin-Hardenne was inexhaustible from the start. Davenport and Henin-Hardenne held their respective serves in the first six games at 3-3. Then in the seventh and eight games, Henin-Hardenne broke Davenport’s serve and held her serve respectively to make her a game away from taking the first set at 5-3. Though Davenport held her serve to push the score at 5-4, Henin-Hardenne responded by holding her serve to win the first set, 6-4, in forty-two minutes.

In the second set, Davenport was leading Henin-Hardenne at 3-1, but Henin-Hardenne won the next two games to level the score. Davenport then responded by holding her serve to lead at 4-3. Not showing any sign of tiredness, Henin-Hardenne then won the next three games to seal the set, 6-4, in forty-six minutes, and the match, 6-4, 6-4.”She played an unbelievable level. I had to raise my level and be at my top to win today. I knew I could lose if I was just a little bit under this level.So she did push me a lot. It’s been a very good test for me,” Henin-Hardenne said.

The Belgian next faces Serbian Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals. Henin-Hardenne won over Jankovic in their previous meeting.

“Now, for the future in the tournament, I’m gonna have a tough semifinal, I think, even if it looks maybe easy on the paper when you look at the rankings. On the court it’s a totally different story. Jankovic is playing great tennis this week. It’s gonna be a tough, tough one for me,” Henin-Hardenne said when asked what to expect in the semifinals.

Day 10 at the US Open in New York was a festival filled with top matches as Tuesday has been a complete wash-out due to ongoing rain showers. In fact Jelena Jankovic´s stunning 6-2 6-1 win in the quarterfinals over Elena Dementieva has been the only completed match that day. The 19th seed from Serbia and Montenegro will enjoy her very first semifinal appearance at a Grand Slam.

The other semis slots were all filled by players who are no strangers to the last stages of a Slam: World number one Amelie Mauresmo made a very quick appearance on Armstrong Court beating young Russian Dinara Safina 6-2 6-3. The top seed is set to meet Maria Sharapova next. The Russian beat fellow tour starlett Tatiana Golovin in a hard fought night-match which featured two tie-breaks 7-6 (4), 7-6 (0).

Justine Henin-Hardenne is just one match away from reaching her fourth consecutive finals at a Grand Slam. The Belgian showed yet another solid display of her game when she downed Lindsay Davenport 6-4 6-4 in front the American´s home crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium which is assumed to have been her very last match at the US Open. Asked about if this was her last US Open, Davenport did not make a clear statement: “Twelve months is obviously a long time away, but at this point I have no idea.”

The Belgian second seed had her back treated in the second set but did not look uncomfortable on court as she continued to hit fast serves and her trademark winners off both sides. Henin-Hardenne will meet Jelena Jankovic next where she is considered the heavy favourite. The reigning French Open winner will be looking for her second US Open title after her win in 2003.

Roddick is back

The male 2003 winner - Andy Roddick - is also trying to capture a second title in Flushing Meadows. Roddick who had experienced several frustrating losts during this year which resulted in him falling out of the top ten temporarily seems to have finally found his powerful game again. The American was the best player on the northamerican continent en route to the last Grand Slam of the year. In case Roddick captures the title he will receive a 2 Million US Dollar paycheck opposed to the 1 Million he would receive without having finished first in the US Open Series.

Of course it will not be the money that makes Roddick run after the yellow ball. A win at this year´s Open could be the most important title for the 24-year-old who has obviously struggled tremendously with a lack of self-confidence ever since he lost on his birthday last year to unknown Gilles Muller. The American is still haunted occasionally by that loss but so far he is looking very impressive.

In the last match of the day Roddick showed a superb performance against fellow former US Open winner Lleyton Hewitt. The American played one of his best matches in his career, dispatching the Australian in less than two hours 6-3 7-5 6-4. Jimmy Connors obviously raised the self-esteem of his protégé a lot as Roddick covered the his side of the court perfectly and even hit several backhand winners down the line, something he always had problems with in the past.

Roddick will now meet Mikhail Youzhny in the semis. The unseeded Russian surprisingly beat Rafael Nadal 6-3 5-7 7-6 (5) 6-1. After loosing the first set, it appeared like the Spaniard would turn the match around when he won the second set and then reached a third set tie-break. However after dropping that tie-break it was Youzhny who completely dominated the match. The Russian Davis Cup player has never reached a semifinal at a Grand Slam before.

Top night-match: Blake vs. Federer

The upper part of the mens draw was playing the 4th round yesterday. Both Roger Federer and James Blake had little trouble with their respective opponents, cruising into a quarterfinal clash. Federer played his regular impressive game against Marc Gicquel from France. The multiple Slam winner won 6-3 7-6 (2) 6-3. It was the first time the Swiss had to play a tie-break at the US Open this year. Blake continued his great run with a stunning 6-4 6-3 6-1 win over 12th seed Tomas Berdych. Blake and Federer will play the match of the day in the night-session on Thursday.

Germany is looking for a success at Flushing Meadows as Tommy Haas outlasted Marat Safin in a tight five sets match. Haas beat the former US Open winner 4-6 6-3 2-6 6-2 7-6 (5) in three hours. Not a good day for the Safin family with Dinara Safina having lost simultaneously on another court.

Haas will now meet another Russian - Nikolay Davydenko. Davydenko beat Andy Murray who totally looked out of sorts most of the time during the quarterfinal match on Armstrong Court even losing the last set to love. Davydenko who is probably the most underrated top ten player at the moment and still plays without a clothing sponsor beat the Brit 6-1 5-7 6-3 6-0.

Tommy Haas and Nikolai Davydenko will meet in the last match of the day session at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

World number five Elena Dementieva was stunned by Serbian star Jelena Jankovic in the first of four quarterfinal matches in straight sets.

On the second Tuesday of the tournament, all elements gathered to claim the departure of the 4th seed of the tournament, Elena Dementieva. Jankovic displayed solid strokes, keeping her unforced errors clearly low, and hitting numerous winners, as well as making Dementieva to taste her own venom, send back all she could to the other side of the net. From the russian’s side, errors crowded her game and her natural groundstrokes were completely messed up.

Jankovic started dictating play and eventually jumped to a 5-1 lead, and after Dementieva broke her to trail 2-5, the Serbian didn’t look back and closed the first set 6-2.

The second set followed the same path, and Jankovic once again jumped to a 5-1 lead, holding a 40-15, double match point, before Dementieva forced the game to go to deuce. Six deuces were needed to close the 1 hour and 2 minute encounter, as the Russian had several opportunities to break. In the end, Dementieva’s stats were simply unsustainable. Thirty-nine errors to just 16 winners paid their high price, and the 2004 finalist was bumped out of the tournament earlier than planned.

However, the day was Jankovics. With this win, she claimed her first slam semifinal, and she will battle either Justine Henin-Hardenne or Lindsay Davenport, who will play on the first feature match of the night session.

For Dementieva it was still a nice tournament. She managed to win 4 matches without the loss of a set, a feat quite remarkable for a player known to be the ‘Queen of three setters’. But today she just couldn’t start one of her trademark comebacks.

Martina Hingis’ hope of a decent finish at this year’s edition of the US Open was shattered when Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano beat her during their second-round match at Flushing Meadows in New York, 6-2, 6-4, in sixty-four minutes.
Playing in her second match since losing to Monica Seles in the fourth round of the US Open in 2002, Hingis looked flat and careless, and was plagued with unforced errors. Razzano, on the other hand was mercilessly coming to the net, and often times, was rewarded with points to her credit.   Hingis could hardly hold her serve in the first set, she managed to win only two games.  Razzano won the first in just twenty-seven minutes.

In the second set, Hingis trailed Razzano at 1-5. Just when it seemed that all is lost, Hingis then clawed her way, winning the next three consecutive games, pushing the scoreboard to 4-5. Hingis’ newly found rythm could not sustain her to win  the second set as Razzano held her serve, to win the set, 4-6, in thirty-seven minutes, and the match, 6-2, 6-4.

“Well, I think it’s not only that she played well, but I didn’t play good. I think I let her play well, and then she just opened up, lost the fear, and played exceptional. I think after yesterday I didn’t have much more to give. I was a little flat and tired mentally,” Hingis told the reporters.

Swiss Martina Hingis recovered from a set down, to beat Chinese Shuai Peng, in their rain-delayed first-round match at the US Open, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, in one hour and fifty-three minutes.Hingis is seeking a decent finish in this year’s edition of the US Open, at Flushing Meadows in New York.

In the first round, Hingis was committing unforced errors one after the other. Serving for the set at 5-3, Peng was poised to take the first set. Alas, Hingis broke her serve, reducing Peng’s lead to just a game, at 5-4. Peng proved to be a hard nut to crack as she broke Hingis’ serve, winning the first set, 6-4, in forty-nine minutes.

Finding her rhythm in the last two sets of the first game, fuelled Hingis’ charge, by winning the first two games to lead the second set at 2-0. Peng then held her serve in the third game, pushing the scoreboard to 2-1. Hingis then won the next four games to push the match into a third deciding set, 6-1, in just twenty-seven minutes.
With the momentum from the second set still intact, Hingis fought ferociously for every point, holding her serve and never allowing Peng to break her serve. In the fourth game, Hingis’ perseverance and patience paid off as she broke Peng’s serve to lead the third set at 3-1. In the succeeding four games, Peng and Hingis traded breaks then held their serves, pushing the score to 5-3 with Hingis maintaining her lead. Hingis then held her serve in the ninth game, taking the third set, 6-3, and the match, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, in a grueling one-hour fifty-three-minute battle.

Hingis fights Virginie Razzano in the second round in Thursday’s featured night match. Hingis has a 2-0 lead in their career head-to-head wins.