Samantha Stosur of Australia stunned four-time former winner Justine Henin 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 at Roland Garros on Monday to wreck hopes of a dream quarterfinal between the Belgian and top seed Serena Williams.
It was the first time that Henin had lost since the second round in 2004, a 24-match unbeaten run that was the third best here. It was also the second straight year that the fast-rising Gold Coast resident Stosur has reached the last eight in Paris, having lost in last year's semifinal to eventual winner Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.
In sharp contrast to the Henin-Stosur thriller, Serena breezed past Shahar Peer of Israel 6-2, 6-2.
In the men's event, second seed Rafael Nadal reached the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 win over Brazilian 24th seed Thomaz Bellucci.
Not surprised
Serena said she was not shocked by Henin's defeat. “She is no pushover,” Serena said of Stosur. “She has beaten me before and I shall have to play my best,” she added.
“You can never underestimate anyone and Sam (Stosur) is a wonderful clay court player. She has a good chance to go all the way. She is fast, she is strong and she has a great serve. She plays a real all-round game,” said Serena.
Henin had won 24 straight matches at Roland Garros, including three titles, since going down to Italy's Tathiana Garbin in the second round in 2004 when she was the defending champion.
She missed the 2008 and 2009 tournaments after retiring in May 2008, but returned to action at the start of the year in Australia.
Henin quickly jumped out into a 2-0 lead and a second break of serve in the seventh game allowed her to pocket the opener 6-2 in just 32 minutes. But, just when it looked like the Belgian was heading for a straightforward win, Stosur, who is ranked a career-best seventh in the world, upped the tempo.
She turned on the power with her serve to edge ahead and then shocked Henin with an array of attacking shots that left the Belgian shaking her head in frustration. A further break of serve put Stosur 5-1 up and she staved off two break points to take the set 6-1.
At this stage, the match resembled the only previous encounter between the two — the final of the Stuttgart clay court tournament earlier this month — which Henin won 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.
In the decider, Stosur stuck to her gameplan of going for her shots and attacking the net at every opportunity and it paid dividends.
The only trouble Serena had against Peer came right at the start when she dropped the first seven points of the match as she struggled to get to grips with the cold, blustery conditions out on the Philippe Chatrier centre court. But, she promptly won the next nine as she switched gears and broke Peer for a second time to take a 4-2 lead.
From there, she coasted through, her serve and ground strokes far too heavy and penetrating for the Israeli.
The win kept alive Serena's hopes of winning Roland Garros for just the second time, eight years after her first triumph.
Big threat
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic reached the quarterfinals, convinced that the confident way he swept past Robby Ginepri makes him a potent threat to favourites Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
The third-seeded Serbian saw off Ginepri 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, reeling off 12 of the last 15 games, and will now face Jurgen Melzer, who ended Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili's run with a 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.
Melzer, the oldest man left in the draw at 29, became the first Austrian to make the last eight since former champion Thomas Muster in 1998.
“Given the way I performed in the third and fourth sets, I think I have a good chance against anybody,” insisted the 23-year-old Djokovic, a semifinalist in 2007 and 2008.
Djokovic had won all of his four previous meetings with World No. 98 Ginepri, who had reached this stage after packing off 2003 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round.
He broke in the 10th game to take the opening set before Ginepri, the last American player left in the men's singles, hit back to level with breaks in the third and seventh games of the second.
But that was as good as it got for Ginepri, a former U.S. Open semifinalist, as Djokovic dictated the remainder of the tie.
Gabashvili's run ends
Melzer ended the run of World No. 114 Gabashvili, the Georgia-born Russian who put out American sixth seed Andy Roddick in the third round.
Gabashvili, who hadn't won back-to-back matches on the tour all year before Roland Garros, was hoping to be the first qualifier to reach the quarterfinals since Uruguay's Marcelo Filippini in 1999.
But Melzer triumphed in five minutes short of three hours with Gabashvili's 45 unforced errors to his opponent's 27 proving decisive.
