World number one Justine Henin leads the charge on Friday as the 2007 US Open heads into the third round of ladies’ tennis at Flushing Meadows.
Already considered a favorite for the title, Henin has so far lived up to the expectation by delivering two decisive, straight-set victories for a berth in her eighth consecutive third round at the US Open.
On Tuesday the top seed will be up against Russian teenager Ekaterina Makarova. Ranked at No. 156, Makarova is the lowest ranked player to reach the third round of play at this year’s Open. Not much is known about the lefty, but she made her debut on Tour earlier this month in Los Angeles. Although Makarova has scored big wins on the ITF circuit, she will have to play the best match of her career to oust an in-form Justine Henin on Arthur Ashe Stadium tomorrow.
The last person to upset Justine Henin was Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon, who did indeed play the match of her life that day. Henin completely self-destructed in their semifinal encounter, propelling Bartoli into her first major final. To the Frenchwoman’s credit, she did not quake against the onslaught of Venus Williams in the final; she simply found herself outplayed on all sides.
Standing in the way of Bartoli’s debut in the second week of action at Flushing Meadows is Grand Slam champion killer Lucie Safarova. With Amelie Mauresmo – Safarova’s victim at the Australian Open and Roland Garros – off the Tour for the present, Lucie would be more than happy to add a Grand Slam finalist to her growing list of scalps.
Venus Williams had an impressive start to her back-to-back Grand Slam pursuit with a crushing, straight sets win over Kira Nagy, but did have to work a bit harder to shutdown Ioana Raluca Olaru in the second round. Still, the new EleVen line is apparently working for her wardrobe, not to mention her game and if Venus continues to compete at this high-percentage level, look for her to be the favorite over Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic for a berth in the semifinals.
Next up for the Wimbledon champion is Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko. The middle of the three Bondarenko siblings, Alona has already scored wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Patty Schnyder this season.
Other matches to watch on Friday include Jelena Jankovic vs. Alize Cornet, Ana Ivanovic vs. Vera Dushevina, Serena Williams vs. Vera Zvonareva, and Dinara Safina vs. Ahsha Rolle.
