Henin, Williams pack same half of US Open draw

　　AFP

　　August 22, 2007

　　NEW YORK (AFP) - World number one Justine Henin and defending champion Maria Sharapova were drawn onto opposite sides of the US Open here on Wednesday but Henin's half has fellow 2007 Grand Slam winners Venus and Serena Williams.

　　Henin will open against a qualifier in the year's final Grand Slam tennis tournament, which starts here Monday, with Russia's Olga Poutchkova or another qualifier awaiting in round two.

　　Japan's Ai Sugiyama, Germany's Julia Schruff or yet another qualifier will face the Belgian star should she advance to the third round.

　　Henin, 25, has won six titles this year, including the 35th of her career on Sunday in Toronto. She lost last year's US Open final to Sharapova but won her sixth career Slam in May at the French Open, her fourth Roland Garros title.

　　US eighth seed Serena Williams, who won the Australian Open but lost to Henin in the French Open and Wimbledon quarter-finals, could face Henin again in the US Open quarter-finals.

　　Wimbledon winner Venus Williams is a potential semi-final foe for her sister or Henin, the draw ending the chances of a repeat of the all-Williams US Open finals won by Venus in 2001 and Serena in 2002, the last year either made the final here.

　　Venus Williams will have some major obstacles in her quarter of the draw, notably Serbian third seed Jelena Jankovic and Serbian fifth seed Ana Ivanovic.

　　Jankovic has beaten Venus Williams twice this year, in the third round at Roland Garros and a Charleston, South Carolina, semi-final. Ivanovic lost to Williams in a Wimbledon semi-final, two rounds after Williams ousted Sharapova.

　　Russian second seed Sharapova has sixth-seeded compatriot Anna Chakvetadze in her quarter of the draw as a potential quarter-final foe in her Slam title defense.

　　The Russian beauty opens against Italy's Roberta Vinci with Australian Casey Dellacqua or Russia's Yaroslava Shvedova awaiting in round two.

　　France's Emilie Loit and Virginie Razzano, Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska or Japan's Akiko Morigami are in position to be Sharapova's third-round foe with Czech Nicole Vaidisova and Israel's Shahar Peer the top-rated round of 16 foes possible.

　　The other quarter of a Russian-dominated seeding side of the draw features Russian fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, who opens against Czech Klara Zakopalova, and Russian seventh seed Nadia Petrova, who opens against Swiss Timea Bacsinszky.