Match too far for weary Henin as Stosur earns shock win

JUSTINE Henin said she was emotionally exhausted after slipping to her first French Open defeat for six years yesterday.

Four-time champion Henin surrendered a one-set lead to lose 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in round four to Samantha Stosur as her 24-match winning run at Roland Garros finally came to an end.

The former world No 1's last defeat on the Paris clay came in 2004, after which she won a hat-trick of singles titles before announcing her shock retirement from the game just over two years ago. This year's French Open was her first since and, despite being less than six months into her comeback, she was widely regarded as one of the favourites for the title.

But her aura of invincibility at Roland Garros faded when her 40-set winning sequence came to an end in the last round against Maria Sharapova – before being shattered yesterday.

Henin, who was playing for a fifth successive day after her last two matches took place across two days, said: "It hasn't been easy, of course, the last few days, to play so many days in a row, even if it's not a full match. The two matches I had to stop and start again, especially against Sharapova, emotionally probably took a lot from me."

The 27-year-old 22nd seed was nevertheless gracious in defeat, adding: "I just wanted so much that the adventure could keep going. But Samantha was the best player on the court. She took her chances.

"When you come back at this level after two years off, you know it's not going to be easy to deal with a lot of situations. I still have to work harder and see it as a big challenge. I took this year as a year of transition, so of course it's hard. I'll just try to keep focused on the future now."

Australian seventh seed Stosur, who has been a revelation since reaching the semi-finals at Roland Garros last year, will now face world No 1 Serena Williams in the last eight.

Williams watched sister Venus crash out of the women's singles yesterday but there was little danger of her following suit in a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Shahar Peer.

The 28-year-old struggled to hold serve at times and was broken twice, but fashioned an ominous six breaks of her own against an opponent who had come close to knocking her out of the Australian Open three years ago.

Williams, who has not reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros since 2003, said: "I seem always to be able to turn it up during this particular stage maybe, the fourth round, for some reason."

Meanwhile, world No 2 Rafael Nadal remained in the hunt to reclaim his French Open title by beating Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-2, 7-5, 6-4.

Bellucci, 22, broke Nadal's serve four times but could not find the consistency to mount a serious challenge.

Nadal will now face his compatriot, Nicolas Almagro, who beat another Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco, in the last eight.