Top seed Justine Henin eased into the third round of the US Open
on Wednesday with a 6-4 6-0 win over Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana
Pironkova.
Top seeded Belgian tennis
player Justine Henin returns a shot to Bulgaria's Tsvetana
Pironkova during their second round match at the 2007 US Open in
Flushing Meadows, New York on Wednesday, August 29, 2007. (Photo:
AFP)
The world number one, bidding for her second US Open title,
blasted 22 winners as she wrapped up victory in 68 minutes.
Nineteen-year-old Pironkova, ranked 130, matched Henin for the
first eight games but the Belgian broke in the ninth game and
served out for the first set.
It was all one-way traffic from that moment on and Henin cruised
through to meet Russian qualifier Ekaterina Makarova in the third
round.
"At the beginning of the match I wasn't aggressive enough,"
Henin told reporters. "I wasn't probably ready to fight hard in the
first few games of the match and it was four-all.
"I'm just happy the way I won my last two matches. Just go step
by step and try to build my confidence day after day."
Henin has dropped just seven games in her opening two matches
but said winning early matches in straight sets was not necessarily
crucial in terms of the tournament as a whole.
"It's important, but I'm not quite sure it means a lot of
things," she said.
"I've been in trouble in my first week sometimes when I won
grand slams. It's good physically if you can remain fresh and
mentally and emotionally but if you can get a little bit in the
competition early it's also good."
(CRI via Reuters August 30, 2007)
