Monday, 31 March, 2008

Justine Henin cruised into the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday with a 6-2 6-1 rout of Italian Sara Errani.

The top-seeded Belgian needed just 64 minutes to dispose of Errani.

Henin, who received a first-round bye before cruising in the second round, is playing her first tournament since a surprise loss to Italy's Francesca Schiavone in the quarter-finals at Dubai in February.

The 25-year-old has already claimed titles this year in Sydney and her native Belgium, and she lost to Serena Williams in the title match here last year.

While Henin had few problems, third-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who fell to Ana Ivanovic in the final at Indian Wells, was forced to come from behind for a 1-6 7-5 6-0 victory over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

Kuznetsova, who also needed three sets in the first round to get past Jan-Yung Chan, won the final 10 games against Azarenka to advance.

In the fourth round, Kuznetsova will face either 16th sees Shahar Peer of Israel or Michelle Larcherde Brito of Portugal.

Serena attempts to continue her success at the hardcourt event on Sunday when she faces Italian Flavia Pennetta in the third round.

The defending champion and eighth seed, who received a first-round bye, opened her title defence on Friday, needing less than an hour to dispose of unseeded Romanian Edina Gallovits.

Sixth-seeded Venus continued to be a force at this event as she coasted to a 6-2 6-1 triumph over Marina Erakovic of New Zealand in a match which lasted just 67 minutes on Sunday.

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