Associated Press

Paris, May 31:

From the start, Justine Henin-Hardenne’s wide variety of sharply angled shots had Maria Sharapova staggering across the clay in vain pursuit. With drop shots, deft volleys and picturesque backhands, Henin-Hardenne kept Sharapova on the run and advanced to the French Open semi-finals, winning 6-4, 6-2. It was a remarkable show of stamina by Henin-Hardenne less than 24 hours after she overcame two match points to win a 3-hour, 15-minute marathon against Svetlana Kuznetsova. The 2003 Roland Garros champion ran her winning streak to 22 matches, all on clay, and improved to 25-1 since returning in March from a seven-month layoff. Top-seeded Roger Federer advanced to his first French Open semi-final after beating Victor Hanescu 6-2, 7-6, 6-3. Federer double-faulted three consecutive times on match point but still managed to improve to 46-2 overall this year. Federer will next face No 4 Rafael Nadal, who defeated No 20 David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2, 6-0.

Henin’s opponent will be seventh-seeded Nadia Petrova, who beat 17-year-old Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-2.

Joining Petrova in the final four was fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva, 29, who advanced to a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time in her 12-year career by beating 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Henin-Hardenne, seeded 10th, has been bothered in recent weeks by a sore back and was pushed to three sets three times in the early rounds. But she dominated with polished performance. The Belgian totaled 22 winners and just 17 unforced errors while losing serve only once. When Sharapova sent a backhand long on match point, Henin grinned, screamed and punched the air. Likhovtseva rallied against Karatantcheva, who upset Venus Williams in the third round and was seeking to become the youngest French Open semi-finalist since 1990. Karatantcheva was two games from victory leading 4-3 in the second set, but her serve and groundstrokes suddenly began to misfire, allowing Likhovtseva to sweep the next three games and even the match. The third set developed into a series of conservative groundstrokes and long points — the kind of rallies reminiscent of the Chris Evert era. Karatantcheva hit some weary shots down the stretch, and Likhovtseva won the final eight points. Playing the first match on center court, Karatantcheva showed no evidence of nerves at the outset and raced to a 3-0 lead. Likhovtseva was less reluctant to move forward, which helped turn the match in her favour. She totaled 29 winners to just 16 for Karatantcheva. Ivanovic hit just 10 winners and had 33 unforced errors against Petrova, who has lost just 33 games and one set in her five victories.

Safin leaves his mark

PARIS: Marat Safin got fed up with his tennis and said he did what any normal person would do: He whacked his changeover chair with his racket, leaving a gaping hole in the wooden base. “I destroyed the chair, the racket because I couldn’t take it anymore,” said Safin, who lost his fourth-round match on Monday in the French Open — but not without putting on a show. Chants of “Ma-rat! Ma-rat!” fired him up during a nearly four-hour match against No 15 Tommy Robredo. The Spaniard walked off the winner, 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 4-6, 8-6. Not known for keeping his cool under pressure, Safin insisted he had done his best to stay calm. But there were points that got the best of him. “You get sick and tired of it,” Safin said. One of those times came in the third set, serving at 15-40 in the fifth game. Safin lost the point, hurled his racket at the baseline and then attacked his chair. He broke the racket as well as the chair and received a warning from the chair umpire. — AP