Unfit Henin Humbled by Journeywoman Garbin

Posted on May 27, 2004

The upsets kept on coming at the 2004 French Open Wednesday with Tatiana Garbin shocking world No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne 7-5, 6-4. For the Belgian it was only her second match back after an extended layoff due to an energy-sapping virus infection.

"I have no regrets that I came here because, you know, I had to come back," Henin-Hardenne said. "I was feeling good, but on the court it's for sure different. It is a tough situation, but I think that in the past I came through many times, and I'm sure I'll do it one more time."

The loss marked just the second time in the history of the French Open that the defending champion failed to reached the third round the following year. A year after winning the title, Arantx Sanchez-Vicario was upset in the second round by Mercedes Paz.

Garbin, who earned Italy's first win over a female No. 1, will now face rising Chinese star Zheng Jie.

Other seeded upsets included (15)Silvia Farina Elia (l. to the American Shaughnessy 7-6 in the third), (28)Lisa Raymond (l. to Parra), (31)Emilie Loit (l. to Zheng), and (32)Dinara "Little Sis" Safina (l. to Irvin).

Seeds moving into the third round were (3)Amelie Mauresmo (d. Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues in three), (5)Lindsay Davenport (d. Sanchez Lorenzo), (8)Nadia Petrova (d. Fedak), (9)Elena Dementieva (d. Pratt), (10)Vera "Warren" Zvon-areva (d. Magui "Don't Call me Maggie" Serna in three), (14)Paola Suarez (d. Douchevina), (18)Maria "Grunt-o-rama" Sharapova (d. Rita "It Wasn't" Grande), (19)Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (d. Klara "Kouky" Koukalova), and (21)Maggie Maleeva (d. Marrero in three).

There were two other winners in all-unseeded matches, with Tatiana Perebiynis thumping Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad, and Germany's Marlene Weingartner outlasting Maria Camerin in three sets.

On court for the women Thursday are (7)Capriati vs. Peschke, (4)Venus vs. Kostanic, (17)Schiavone vs. Razzano, (6)Myskina vs. Strycova, (16)Schnyder vs. Asagoe, (25)Bovina vs. Groenefeld, (23)Zuluaga vs. Likhovtseva, (20)Martinez vs. Navratilova-killer Gisela "Sgt." Dulko, (30)Pierce vs. Leon Garcia, (2)Serena vs. Kirilenko, (12)Sugiyama vs. Ruano Pascual, (11)Kuznetsova vs. Rittner, Casanova vs. Vento-Kabchi, (29)Mandula vs. Denisa "Hanging" Chlad-kova, , Talaja vs. Foretz, and Srebotnik vs. Perry.