Daniela Hantuchova, Justine Henin Advance To Quarter Finals in Brisbane

Brisbane International

On a gorgeous day in Brisbane where each of the top four seeds in the men's tournament secured their passage to the quarter finals, the talk of the town was the very real prospect of Justine Henin meeting Kim Clijsters.

27-year-old Henin, a former seven-time Grand Slam winner, defeated Russian-born Kazakhstani Sesil Karatantcheva 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the last eight of the competition where she will meet Melinda Czink on Thursday.

With No. 1 seed Clijsters winning on Tuesday and Henin competing via a wildcard at the opposite end of the draw, the prospect on an all-Belgian final on Saturday is becoming more of a possibility as the field is reduced day-by-day.

Wednesday’s action saw the completion of round two at the Brisbane International where eight women were competing for the four remaining quarter final berths.

No. 4-seeded Daniela Hantuchova dropped just one service game in her impressive straight sets victory over Hungarian Agnes Szavay three-and-one

The Slovakian Hantuchova, ranked 24th in the world, faced two break points in her 70-minute encounter, attacking Szavay’s first serve and breaking her 21-year-old opponent a total of five times.

It marked the first time Hantuchova defeated Szavay after losing their first two contests at New Haven and, more recently, in Paris. The Slovakian’s reward is a matchup with the world’s No. 55, Andrea Petkovic.

While it is still early to assess Hantuchova’s form, it does appears as if things are moving along nicely for her ahead of next week’s Medibank International in Sydney, where the field will include Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Elena Dementieva.

Lucie Safarova will meet Clijsters for the first time in the quarter finals after a straight sets victory over the No. 6 seed Aleksandra Wozniak.

Safarova needed just over an hour to book her place in the last eight with a 6-3, 6-1 win. She won almost 80 percent of her first service points and she left the Canadian wondering what might have been after saving six of the seven break points she faced.

Safarova, who lost to eventual champion Victoria Azarenka in the quarter finals in Brisbane last January, will be first on the night session in the Pat Rafter Arena.

In the remaining quarter final on Wednesday, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova came from a set down to beat Roberta Vinci 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The Russian teenager hit seven double faults and dropped serve on four occasions, but put a disappointing first set behind her to beat the more experienced Italian.

She will meet No. 3 seed Ana Ivanovic on Thursday with a place in the semi finals up for grabs.

With four seeds and wildcard Henin still remaining, the chances are that fans will be in for a pair of semi-final treats whichever way they get sliced and served up.

ASB Classic

In Auckland, New Zealand, it was a mixed day for the favourites as a trio of seeded players fell on day three of the tournament.

While there were straight sets victories for top seed Flavia Pennetta, No. 3 Yanina Wickmayer, and fourth-seeded Francesca Schiavone, No. 5 Virginie Razzano, sixth-seeded Elena Vesnina, and seventh seed Aravane Rezai were all knocked out.

Pennetta, ranked 12 in the world, booked her place in the quarter finals with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Carla Suarez Navarro, while Wickmayer triumphed with an identical two-and-two scoreline over Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru.

Shiavone was also in impressive form against Sania Mirza in her 6-0, 6-3 win.

The Italian broke Mirza’s serve three times in each set and she will now face Alixe Cornet in the quarter finals after the Frenchwoman dumped out No. 6 seed Vesnina.

23-year-old Vesnina was heads-on favourite to defeat the French teenager, but Cornet saved six break points and converted six of her own in a commanding 6-1, 6-1 romp against the world’s No. 23.

Elsewhere, Kimiko Date Krumm continued her comeback, fighting from a set down to beat Razzano 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a tense encounter lasting almost two hours.

The 39-year-old, ranked No. 69 heading into Auckland as a wildcard, had never defeated a top 20-player since coming out of retirement in 2008. If she wants to advance further in the competition, she will have to produce more of the same on Thursday against No. 16-ranked Wickmayer.

Aravane Rezai was the third seed of the day to fall—and the fifth of the tournament—losing three-and-four to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.

In the other two second round matches in the bottom half of the draw, neither Kaia Kanepi nor Magdalena Rybarikova could follow up their victory over a seed in round one with a second consecutive victory.

Kanepi, who produced the upset of the tournament on Tuesdya when she knocked out No. 2 seed Na Li, went down in straight sets to Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-3, while Rybarikova—who defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues on Monday—won just one game against Shahar Peer, losing 6-1, 6-0.