Henin win sets up Clijsters clash

Wimbledon Championships
Venue: All England Club, London Date: 21 June - 4 July
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Henin is looking to go one better than 2006 when she lost in the final

By Piers Newbery BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Justine Henin will play fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters in the last 16 at Wimbledon after the pair powered through their third-round matches.

Eighth seed Clijsters swept past Maria Kirilenko 6-3 6-3 to continue her smooth progress on her return to the All England Club after four years away.

Henin, the 17th seed, saw off Nadia Petrova 6-1 6-4.

The two Belgians have met twice this year, with Clijsters winning both matches in third set tie-breaks.

It is the first time since 2006 that both Henin and Clijsters have been in action at Wimbledon after each of them came out of spells in retirement over the last 12 months.

Clijsters had a midday start on Court Two for her third-round match and was in clinical mood from the outset.

She stormed into a 3-0 lead within nine minutes and although Kirilenko, a quarter-finalist at this year's Australian Open, managed to slow the Belgian's progress she never threatened an upset.

The Russian did recover an early break in the second set but Clijsters restored her advantage immediately and wrapped up the win after just 62 minutes.

Clijsters, the US Open champion, has been in commanding form throughout the first week, losing just 14 games in her opening three matches.

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If anything, her compatriot was in even more dazzling form as she began her match over on Centre Court.

Henin is known for her elegant backhand but it was the forehand in particular that shone as she broke three times to win the first set in 27 minutes.

It was always going to be tough to maintain such a high level but Henin's serve dropped off dramatically, from 81% of first serves made in the first set to 30% at the start of the second.

Petrova went into the match on the wrong end of a 13-2 record against Henin, and having lost twice to the Belgian already this year, but the 11th seed was starting to look like she believed until the four-time French Open champion rediscovered her form.

After three break points went begging at 3-2, Henin stepped in and swiped a backhand return away for a clean winner before a quickfire service game had her in the lead once again.

Petrova stuck with Henin until it came time to serve to stay in the match - and a poor volley and a double-fault saw her fall 15-40 down before a backhand floated long on match point.

Henin took the applause of the Centre Crowd as she left, and she will almost certainly be back there on Saturday for the showdown with Clijsters.

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