Safina retires hurt
01/24/2010 11:13:50 AM
glad the way I played, the way I handled everything. I think I played a good match. It's good for the future. I know what to work on. I saw what points still need to be better," she said.
"I felt today I'm really close to playing great tennis. Just a little bit of work still has to be done. But it's great for the future. It's a good motivation for me."
Henin is the first qualifier through to the Australian Open quarter-finals since Mexican Angelica Gavaldon in 1990.
She is playing here without a ranking. Evonne Goolagong won the 1977 Australian Open title unranked, as did Kim Clijsters at the 2009 US Open.
Henin will face 19th seed Nadia Petrova in the quarter-finals after the Russian beat third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 3-6 6-1 earlier in the day.