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Sharapova ousts Henin; Serena knocked out

Defending champ Williams makes 36 unforced errors in loss to Jankovic

Image: Sharapova, Henin AP
Maria Sharapova blows a kiss to the crowd after beating Justine Henin 6-4, 6-0 in their Australian Open quarterfinal match Tuesday. Sharapova ended Henin's 32-match win streak.

Henin, who struggled with her serve and was broken five times by Sharapova, said she had a minor concern over a lingering knee injury but put the end of her winning streak down as an inevitability.

“It’s very hard to be at your best level all the time,” she said. “I’ll have to think about that and build again for the future.”

Sharapova will be looking back for lessons to take into the semis against Jankovic, her old tennis academy pal.

“Ever since the juniors we’ve always played really tough and we’ve always battled it out, and it’s great to see her in the semis,” Sharapova said. “It’s great we’re playing together.”

Jankovic has two Serbian compatriots in the quarterfinals Wednesday, with Ivanovic against Venus Williams and Novak Djokovic playing David Ferrer of Spain.

After an impressive first four rounds, Serena Williams looked sluggish and her serve misfired against Jankovic, contributing to seven service breaks.

She had time to reflect on the singles loss when she combined with Venus in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 doubles quarterfinal loss to Chinese pair Yan Zi and Zheng Jie.

“I think that I went crazy, maybe, and I made a lot of mistakes. I didn’t really play the game I wanted to play,” Williams said, adding that she had some physical issues she didn’t want to elaborate on. “I don’t like to make excuses. We won’t discuss those.”

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“I lost because Jelena played better than me and I made too many errors — I think regardless, the match was on my racket, and I gave it away.”

Jankovic has been hampered by a thigh problem since helping Serbia to the Hopman Cup final, where it lost to the Serena Williams-led United States.

She needed treatment during her first-round match here, when she had to save three match points, and again in the second set Tuesday.

“I’m like a wounded animal. I still keep going,” she said, adding for emphasis that she had a point to prove following a fourth-round loss to Williams here last year.

“Getting revenge, it feels so good,” Jankovic said.

© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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