Justine Henin vs Maria Sharapova: Quarter Final of Australian Open 2008

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Justine Hein and Maria Sharapova are going to face each other in another mouth watering clash in the quarterfinal of Australian Open 2008. Both the stars have eased past their opponents in the previous rounds of the tournament and neither of them lost any set so far in Australian Open 2008 so far. Henin vs Sharapova clash is now the center of all attention in women’s singles of Australian Open 2008.

Justine Henin projected a straight sets victory over Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan 6-2, 6-2, setting up her quarter final showdown with Maria Sharapova. With this victory, Justine Henin has taken her winning streak to 32. In the same way, Sharapova also managed her fourth round victory with similar ease and confirmed her meeting with Henin for the ninth time. Sharapova roared past 11^th seed Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0 in the fourth round match which lasted only an hour and 2 minutes.

Tennis fans experienced eight Henin vs Sharapova matches in the past. Though Sharapova has been in an impressive form so far, record book favors Henin. The Belgium won six out of eight matches against Sharapova, the last one being the WTA Tour Championship final in Madrid last year, which Henin won in three sets. Henin has stated that victory as one of the best in her career and one of the best matches of last year. Regarding her upcoming match against Sharapova, the world no. 1 has been full of praise for the Russian.

The Press Association reported:

"I always know to beat her I have to be at my best. She's a real fighter. She never gives up. Very talented. She's a champion. So I know that against her I will have to give 100% all the time."

"Now is when it gets serious. And that's what I'm here for. So I'm very excited about tough matches coming up and I hope it's going to be a great week of tennis," added the Belgian.

Maria Sharapova, on the other hand, had an unimpressive season last year with no grand slam success. She struggled with injury which forced her to adopt an easier action of serving last year. Sharapova even admitted that injury kept her under perform a big part of the year. So, she was dropped to no. 5 in the year end ranking.

However, the Russian star has been in an impressive form. In fact, she has been improving with every round and did not face any problem so far in Australian Open 2008, despite the fact that she was in a tough area of the draw. Now, ahead of the match against Justine Henin, the Russian has also been full of praise regarding her opponent.

AFP reported:

"I was seeing the ball well today," Sharapova said, acknowledging she was likely to have a tougher time against Henin.

"She's just very steady and very consistent and she do whatever it takes to win the point," she said.

"No matter how long the point is, no matter how many times you run her side to side, she's willing to be out there challenge you to make the errors."

Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova both have similar feeling regarding Australian Open. Henin had to retire during the final of 2006 Australian Open with physical illness, which led to public dissatisfaction as there were many fans who though she could have continued in the final. In 2007, she withdrew from Australian Open following her personal problems related to the break up of her marriage. So, winning another Australian Open title has become a common expectation among her fans.

Maria Sharapova has not won Australian Open. Last year, she cruised to the final of Australian Open, where she unexpectedly lost to Serena Williams. So, she also has something to prove this time around. Maria Sharapova started the tournament with sheer confidence and is expected to be one of the contenders of the title.

Now, ahead of the Justine Henin vs Maria Sharapova clash, fans are excited to see another competitive match between the two. Whenever the two take on each other, it attracts the tennis fans. I do not go for any prediction as you know this is a match where statistics, records can be taken into account. It is like a match where one needs to play her best and get a bit of help of luck.