Henin-Hardenne Another Match Closer to Gold at Athens Olympics

Posted on August 18, 2004

Top-seeded Olympian Justine Henin-Hardenne increased her post-layoff win-loss record to 2-0 Tuesday in Athens, looking increasingly impressive in dismissing Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-2, 6-1.

"I'm feeling good here. My energy is good even after four months off," Henin-Hardenne said. "Mentally, it's going to be tougher, because I need to be focused on every point. In the next few weeks, that's going to be hardest of all."

No. 6 seed Venus Williams took her anger out on Maja Matevzic after losing in her doubles with replacement partner Chanda Rubin, beating the Slovak 0-and-0.

"I'm still in shock. I'm not used to losing, especially in a first round. It's pretty tough," Venus said. "That really affected the way I played today. I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I usually let it go. It bothered me a whole lot."

Other seeds advancing were (2)Amelie Mauresmo (d. Camerin 0-and-1), (3)Anastasia Myskina (d. Kristina "You're a Fine Girl" Brandi in three sets), (5)Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Morigami), (8)Ai Sugiyama (d. (WC)Perebiynis), (10)Patty "Handshake" Schnyder (d. Daniela "The Walking Stick" Hantuchova in three), (11)Francesca Schiavone (d. Cho in three), (12)Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem (d. (WC)Widjaja), and (16)Rubin (d. (WC)Black in three).

Un-seeds moving on were the crafty Aussie veteran Nicole Pratt (d. Garbin in three), Mary Pierce with the upset (d. (9)Petrova), Greece's own Eleni Daniilidou bringing the Athens crowd to their collective feet (d. (15)Maleeva in three), Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga (d. (7)Suarez 6-1 in the third), rolling American Lisa Raymond (d. (14)Farina Elia, giving up only three games), and Aussie comer Alicia Molik (d. Srebotnik).

On court when the seeds start to meet Wednesday are (1)Henin-Hardenne vs. Pratt, (3)Myskina vs. Daniilidou, Pierce vs. (6)Venus, (16)Rubin vs. (2)Mauresmo, (Alt)Raymond vs. Molik, (5)Kuznetsova vs. (10)Handshake Schnyder, (8)Sugiyama vs. (12)The Spreminator, and (11)Schiavone vs. The Fabulous One.