Henin in cruise control

Players Under the Microscope / Editor / 02 July 2007 / Leave a Comment

World number one and tournament favourite Justine Henin made short work of 13th seed Patty Schnyder to ease through to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

After rain delayed the start of play by an hour, the Belgian wasted little time in seeing off her Swiss opponent's challenge, winning 6-2 6-2 in just 56 minutes.

Henin raced into a 3-0 lead and, although she suffered a break of serve of her own, the 25-year-old broke back immediately before polishing off the first set.

With the skies threatening rain again, Henin wrapped up the second set with a double break to book her place in the last eight with ease.

Henin, who has barely broken sweat in the tournament so far, remains a strong favourite at 2.58 to lift the only Grand Slam event to elude her, with 'Yes' also strongly fancied in 'New Winner' market.

However, the tournament is likely to now get a lot tougher for the two-time runner up as she will now face either two-time champion Serena Williams or 10th seed Daniela Hantuchova in the last eight.

Meanwhile, sixth seed Ana Ivanovic booked her place in the fourth round with a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win over Aravane Rezai of France.

The Serbian will face 11th seed Nadia Petrova after the Russian beat Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-3 7-6.

The two have never met on grass, tied 2-2 in head-to-heads, but Ivanovic is fancied at 1.35 to make it through, with Petrova on offer at 2.14.