Henin-Hardenne darts into last eight

PARIS, June 4 (Reuters) Champion Justine Henin-Hardenne scurried into the quarter-finals of the French Open with a ruthless 6-1 6-4 win over Anastasia Myskina today.

In a battle between the last two winners of the Roland Garros title, Henin-Hardenne wasted little time in taking a vice-like grip of the match.

The Belgian fifth seed rattled off four straight games before her Russian opponent could even register a game on the scoreboard.

Henin-Hardenne embarrassed Myskina even further by surging ahead 5-0 in the second set.

However, as she attempted to serve out the match, Myskina suddenly came alive. The 10th seed broke the Belgian and won a roar of approval from the centre court crowd when she finally held her serve for the first time in the match for 5-2.

Despite winning two more games in a row and saving three match points in the process, Myskina's reprieve was short-lived.

Henin-Hardenne ended Myskina's torment with a smash after 76 minutes.

She will next meet Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld for a place in the last four.

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