Henin on Track to Reach 2010 Australian Open Finals

Sunday's play has determined the four quarterfinal berths in the bottom half draw of the 2010 Australian Open women's singles tournament. Of the four quarter-finalists, only one belongs to a seeded player who is not even amongst the top sixteen seeds. #19 Nadia Petrova however, proved she is worthy of her place in the quarterfinals after beating two higher seeded players and tournament favorites in #15 Kim Clijsters and #3 Svetlana Kuznetsova. Both players won two of the four majors last year with Clijsters taking the US Open crown and Kuznetsova, the French Open title. Petrova will be contesting her eight major quarterfinal but her first since 2008 Wimbledon.

Three of those who made the quarterfinals in that portion of the draw are unseeded players - Justine Henin, Jie Zheng, and Maria Kirilenko. Of the three, Kirilenko has claimed the biggest scalps. She beat #14 Maria Sharapova in the first round, and #2 Dinara Safina in the fourth round. Safina withdrew from her fourth round match after trailing 4-5 in the first set. Kirilenko now makes her first ever appearance at a grand slam quarterfinals. Her previous best showing before this tournament was a fourth round performance at the 2008 Australian Open.

Zheng of China downed two lesser seeds on her way to the quarterfinals. She beat #11 Marion Bartoli in the third round and followed that up with a three set victory over Hobart winner, #31 Alona Bondarenko. Zheng improved a stage further having reached the fourth round of the Australian Open last year. She's also not a newcomer to the later rounds of a grand slam. She reached the 2008 Wimbledon semifinals and gave Serena Williams a battle before losing in a second set tie-break. Zheng will now face Kirilenko for a spot in the semifinals.

Henin is now the only remaining player in her side of the draw to have reached a Grand Slam final. The seven-time major winner has surrendered one set in each of her last singles matches and is playing with a very much improved net game. With the draw opening in her favor, she is now heavily favored to reach the finals in her first Grand Slam after retiring in May 2008. She'll be facing Petrova, a player she has beaten twice in the past two months. The only concern about Henin will be her stamina. If she's able to down Petrova in straight sets in her next match, she'll be the favorite to reach the finals. I'm highly doubtful though that she will have enough energy in her semifinals match if her she will take three sets to beat Petrova in the quarterfinals. That would mean she'll be playing four three setters in a row - no matter how good and talented she is, fitness is most certainly a factor that will play against her on just her first month of competitive tennis.

My Quarterfinal Predictions:

Zheng will beat Kirilenko in 3 sets
Henin will beat Petrova in 2 sets