Henin-Hardenne dodges match points to advance

PARIS -- Maria Sharapova won in 10 minutes Monday at the French Open. Justine Henin-Hardenne took a lot longer.

Henin-Hardenne played for 3 hours, 15 minutes, overcoming two match points in the fourth round to beat reigning U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-5.

"It was a bit of a miracle," Henin-Hardenne said. "I was seeing her very nervous. She was afraid to win the match. That was very clear. When you can see that in the eyes of your opponent, that is very good for myself."

The Belgian's opponent in the quarterfinals today will be second-seeded Sharapova, who swept the final three games to complete a match suspended overnight because of rain. She beat Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-2, 6-3.

Reigning Australian Open champion Marat Safin, seeded third, lost to No. 15 Tommy Robredo 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 4-6, 8-6.

Both 2004 men's finalists also were eliminated. Defending champion Gaston Gaudio blew a 4-0 lead in the last set and lost in four hours to No. 20 David Ferrer, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-4.

"I got too nervous, I guess, and after that I couldn't do anything," Gaudio said. "Always to lose is disappointing. Losing like this is even worse."

No. 8 Guillermo Coria, beaten by Gaudio in last year's final, lost to No. 12 Nikolay Davydenko 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-2. Davydenko plays Robredo in the quarterfinals.

No. 4 Rafael Nadal of Spain advanced to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal by beating No. 23 Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. The match was suspended Sunday night in the third set because of rain, and earlier was interrupted for 10 minutes when a chair umpire's ruling against Grosjean brought sustained jeers from the center-court crowd.

"The crowd yesterday didn't really behave as they maybe should behave when watching a match," Nadal said. "But this is France, it's not Spain. I've never seen anything like that in Spain, that's for sure. It was just a really silly thing."

Nadal, 18, extended his winning streak to 21 matches, all on clay. He'll next face Ferrer, a fellow Spaniard.

Safin threw a brief tantrum in the third set of his marathon, leaving a hole in the base of his wooden changeover chair when he smashed it with a racket. He eventually regained his composure but committed 73 unforced errors and lost in 3 hours, 50 minutes.

Joining Henin-Hardenne in the women's final eight will be three teenagers, including No. 29 Ana Ivanovic. The 17-year-old Serb beat No. 22 Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 and will next play No. 7 Nadia Petrova.

No. 9 Guillermo Canas advanced to the men's quarterfinals when No. 28 Nicolas Kiefer withdrew hours before their match because of a sore neck.

The No. 5-seeded Gaudio busted his racket in anger while losing a third-set tiebreaker, but the worst was yet to come. Ferrer, who came to Roland Garros with a career Grand Slam record of 5-9, won the final six games.

"The end was a bit strange," Ferrer said. "That's what tennis is all about. Anything can happen."