TENNIS:Two of the top players in the women's singles, Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova, will square up tomorrow for a place in the semi-finals, a match of rich promise.
Neither Sharapova nor Henin displayed any semblance of weakness, the Belgian beating Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-2 and Sharapova - Shazza in this part of the world - winning an all-Russian fourth round against Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0.
Henin, the world number one, holds a 6-2 advantage over Sharapova, although she had to be at her best in last year's end-of-season championships in Madrid to win their last meeting 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.
Sharapova, crushed unmercifully by Serena Williams in last year's final here, struggled for virtually the whole year with a right-shoulder problem and it was not until the last tournament that she began to look anything like her old self. Henin is on a run of 33 consecutive victories since her shock defeat by France's Marion Bartoli in the Wimbledon semi-finals.
"The match in Madrid was pretty tough and physically she got me in the end but I was still very close," said Sharapova.
"I have to take my chances, which I didn't do in Madrid. I hadn't played too much tennis and my body was sore and I hit the wall."
Henin can match any of the big hitters for power on most days, while her game has much more variety than most: "Now it gets serious. It was a big fight in Madrid, one of the best matches of last year. Maria is back to her best level. She's a real fighter, never gives up."
It promises to be the women's highlight of the early part of the second week, with the winner likely to play the reigning champion, Serena Williams.
Williams shook everybody at this time last year when, patently unfit and out of condition to begin with, she battled through the field, unseeded, and captured her eighth grand slam title. This year, like her sister Venus, the reigning Wimbledon champion, she arrived in Australia fully prepared and match-fit from the get-go, as the Americans would have it.
Her fourth-round match against Nicole Vaidisova threatened to be a considerable test, with the 18-year-old Czech in previously impressive form, but it was no real test at all, Williams winning with ominous ease 6-3, 6-4.
Williams had much more of a struggle against Vaidisova in last year's semi-finals, winning 7-6, 6-4, but then that was a different Williams. That said, she was not unduly happy with this performance.
"I didn't have a lot of rhythm," she said.
She next plays Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, who ended the homespun tale of Casey Dellacqua, the conqueror of Amelie Mauresmo. Jankovic and Williams are level at 2-2 in their previous matches.
The third seed Jankovic agreed she would need to raise her game: "I will have to play really great tennis, be very accurate and serve well. She's twice as strong as me."
Williams said: "At the end of the day I never really get upset at whoever I play because I'm totally fine. As long as I'm not playing Venus in the quarters, it doesn't matter to me. Eventually you're going to have to play everyone else."
