Henin into Australian Open fourth round

MELBOURNE: Top seed Justine Henin advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday after receiving her toughest workout so far at this year's event in a 7-5, 6-4 win over Italy's Francesca Schiavone. 

The world number one was pushed all the way in the first set and had to pull off some stunning shots to keep 25th seed Schiavone at bay before taking control in the second.   

"It was really exciting, I was glad to win in two sets," Henin said.   

"She's always given me a lot of trouble in the past and it was a tough third round for me so I'm glad to go through." 

Henin scored two early service breaks but Schiavone broke back each time, attacking the net in a bid to upset her opponent's rhythm and matching the Belgian's speed around the court.   

But Henin showed why she is a seven-time Grand Slam champion as she found winning shots at critical points while the dogged Italian created chances but repeatedly fell just short.   

She was finally defeated in one hour 41 minutes, receiving hearty applause from the Melbourne Park crowd for her wholehearted efforts to upset Henin, who won the Australian title in 2004. 

Henin faces a possible quarter-final match up with Russian fifth seed Maria Sharapova but said she was did not want to get ahead of herself and was concentrating on her next tie against either Hsieh Su-Wei or Aravane Rezai. 

"I hate to look too far, I have my fourth round in two days and I just want to get ready, improve my game and get confident."