Tennis-Open-Impressive Henin hands King lesson

NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) Second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne gave rising American teenager Vania King a lesson at the US Open today, beating her 6-1 6-2 to reach the third round.

The Belgian, champion in 2003, was close to her imperious best, hammering 22 winners as she cruised to victory in just over an hour.

''Especially the level in the first set I think was pretty good,'' Henin-Hardenne said.

''I think she's a good player. She was hitting the ball good.

I had to be very consistent and focus on every point, so I'm happy.'' The 17-year-old King, considered one of the United States's most promising players, broke Henin-Hardenne twice in the match but the second seed was too strong.

The French Open champion romped through the first set and though King matched her early on in the second, Henin-Hardenne broke in the sixth and eighth games to set up a clash with Japan's 28th seed Ai Sugiyama or Tathiana Garbin of Italy.

Henin-Hardenne has barely been tested in the first two rounds but said she was more than happy to get through.

''A win like this is for sure better because physically you're not going to find your limits, which is good,'' Henin-Hardenne said.

''On the other hand, sometimes I had tough matches in the first rounds in grand slams and I won them so no rules about that.'' Reuters SRS VP0105