Henin, Nadal stay on track but Mauresmo crashes

MELBOURNE: Justine Henin and Rafael Nadal survived tough workouts to stay on track at the Australian Open on Friday, but 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo lost control and crashed out.
    
The French former world No.1 revived questions about being a choker as she blew a one set lead to bow out 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Australian golden girl Casey Dellacqua in front a patriotic home crowd on centre court.
    
Henin and Nadal were also made to sweat, but defending women's champion Serena Williams and fifth seed Maria Sharapova breezed through their third round matches.
    
A dominant Williams strolled to 6-3, 6-4 win over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus while a pumped-up Sharapova downed fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-0.
    
Henin, the world number one, used her experience to grind out a 7-5, 6-4 win over Italy's Francesca Schiavone and will now play Taiwanese qualifier Hsieh Su-Wei - her country's first ever player in a Grand Slam fourth round.
    
The top seed was pushed hard in the first set and had to pull off some stunning shots to keep Schiavone at bay before taking control.
    
"It was really exciting, I was glad to win in two sets," said Henin, who revealed hip-hop lessons were now part of her training regime.
    
"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."
    
It was the Belgian's 31st consecutive victory stretching back to the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year. She knows it will eventually come to an end, but is confident it will not happen in Melbourne.     

Nadal revived his tilt at a maiden Australian crown with a a 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 win over Frenchman Gilles Simon.
    
The muscular Spaniard was tested early by the 28th-seed Simon, saving six set points in the first set, but he finished too strong and to set up a fourth round clash against Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.
    
"He started very aggressively and I made some mistakes," Nadal said.
    
"I had some very difficult moments, particularly serving at 5-4 down in the first set. My serve was very important today and I had to serve two aces in that game to hold him out."
    
America's top hope Andy Roddick plays tricky German Philipp Kohlschreiber in an evening match.
    
Unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pushed deeper into the draw with an easy win over Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez while fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko continued his quiet progress by beating France's Marc Gicquel.
    
The low-profile Davydenko, who remains at the centre of an investigation into a betting scandal, will next play Davis Cup teammate and 14th seed Mikhail Youzhny, who ended the hopes of big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
    
Mauresmo's nerves again proved her undoing against an opponent ranked 78 in the world who was bundled out in the first round in all five of her previous campaigns at Melbourne Park.     

The two-time Grand Slam champion won the first set but could not pull clear of Dellacqua, committing 43 unforced errors.
    
"I'm shaking so much, I'm so excited," Dellacqua said after eliminating her 28-year-old opponent.
    
She will now face third seed Jelena Jankovic, who has not been convincing at Melbourne Park and her stuttering 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Virginie Razzano of France failed to allay concerns.
    
Williams fired down 15 aces in her match as her booming serve found its groove. The American seventh seed will now play 12th seed Nicole Vaidisova, who ended Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama's tournament in a 6-3, 6-4 cakewalk.
    
"I'm feeling pretty good about where I am, I'm just enjoying every moment being here," said Williams.
    
Sharapova was in no mood to tolerate any obstacles in her quest to make amends for a humiliating loss in last year's final, racing through her match in 56 minutes and will now play eleventh seed Elena Dementieva.
    
"I'm really excited, it gets tougher from here and I'm really looking forward to stepping it up and playing at the next level," she said.