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MELBOURNE - Reputations count for little in grand slam tennis as champion Serena Williams and world number one Justine Henin found on Tuesday, both put to the sword at the quarterfinal stage of the Australian Open.
Henin had not lost a match since Wimbledon 2007 - a run of 32 matches - but was brought to her knees under the night sky by a rampant Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-0. It was the first time the Belgian had lost a set 6-0 since 2002.
"It's funny because I felt like I was in my own bubble today," the statuesque Sharapova beamed.
"It's amazing when you go out on the court and feel you're doing the right things to beat such an amazing player as her. It's just incredible."
American powerhouse Serena had earlier relinquished her title with little more than a whimper when she was jettisoned 6-3 6-4 by Serbia's "wounded animal" Jelena Jankovic.
"I had some issues but I don't like to make excuses," Serena said.
"Definitely a problem all through the day but nothing life-threatening, so it's fine"
Her misery was compounded when she lost in the women's doubles paired with sister Venus.
In the men's draw, Rafael Nadal continued his assault on the first grand slam of the season with a 7-5 6-3 6-1 win over Finn Jarkko Nieminen.
He next meets unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who upset 14th seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 7-5 6-0 7-6 to reach his first grand slam semi-final.
With Serena already defeated, Henin took to the court a strong favourite to win the title she bagged in 2004.
Her fifth-seeded foe was in ebullient mood, however, smashing 30 winners as she took a tight first set and ripped through the second to line up a semi-final against Jankovic.
Runner-up to Serena in Melbourne last year, Sharapova had lost six of her eight meetings with Henin but that record counted for nothing.
Herself a former world number one, Sharapova ran amok and left Henin wondering what might have been.
"I think that I have no excuse. She won the match. She's been the best," Henin told reporters.
"I can tell I wasn't at my best level, and that's for sure. But the story is she won the match, and I'm going back home now.
"So it's kind of a disappointment for sure. It's very hard to be at your best level all the time."
Three-times Australian Open champion Serena was out-fought and out-thought on Rod Laver Arena.
Soon afterwards she, along with sister Venus, was out of the women's doubles too following a 3-6 6-4 6-2 quarterfinal defeat by China's Yan Zi and Zheng Jie.
For Jankovic, plagued by niggling injuries, the 99-minute victory was sweet revenge for last year's fourth-round defeat at Melbourne Park.
"I'm like a wounded animal, I still keep going," the third seed smiled. "The most important thing is that I fight on the court, and I always give my best and I never give up."
Serena is known to be one of the most fearsome fighters in sport, but under clear blue skies she was impotent. Her shots lacked punch, her serve lacked bite and her tactics unravelled.
Spanish powerhouse Nadal simply wore down Nieminen for his place in the Australian Open semi-finals for the first time.
The three-times French Open champion saved two set points before winning the first set and gradually turned the screw.
"It's the third match that I have had set points against me in the first set so I'm very happy about (coming through) that," Nadal said.
Tsonga dominated the night match against Youzhny from the start, bombarding the Russian with his powerful serve and 35 winners. The world number 38 took a see-saw third-set tiebreak 8-6 to clinch victory in two hours 17 minutes.
- REUTERS
* New Zealand's Sacha Jones was beaten in straight sets in the second round of girls' singles at the Australian Open junior tennis championship yesterday.
Jones, 17, the ninth seed at the tournament, lost 5-7, 5-7 to Australia's Alison Bai in what she said was one of her most disappointing matches ever. "It was possibly one of the worst matches of my career," Jones said. "All credit to Alison but I was just off and I don't know why. I prepared really well. I guess I wanted it too much."
The New Zealand No 2 senior player struggled to hit returns with any depth and was found wanting when the pressure came on.
- Reuters, NZPA
