Tennis-Open-Henin storms into quarter-finals

NEW YORK, Sep 4 (Reuters) Second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne hammered out a warning to her rivals for the U S Open title when she crushed Israeli Shahar Peer 6-1 6-0 to reach the quarter-finals.

The 2003 champion ripped past 21st seed Peer in just 50 minutes to set up a clash with either seventh seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland or American Lindsay Davenport, the 1998 champion.

''It was a very good match for me,'' Henin-Hardenne said.

''I did a lot of serve and volleying today and that helped me to stay aggressive.'' Henin-Hardenne had needed three sets to get past Ai Sugiyama of Japan in the previous round but she won 12 of the first 14 points on her way to taking the first set in 23 minutes.

Peer, who was appearing in the fourth round for the first time, had no answer to Henin-Hardenne's power and the Belgian cruised to victory.

REUTERS AB HT2304