Wimbledon: Justine Henin Cruises Through

An unusually early start on the so-called 'Graveyard of Champions' did nothing to halt Justine Henin's serene progress through the Wimbledon draw today.

The top seed and world No1 lost just seven games in winning her first two matches, and third-round opponent Elena Vesnina provided similarly weak resistance on Court Two, as Henin shrugged off a rain delay of around 80 minutes to cruise to a 6-1, 6-3 victory and book her place in the last 16.

The match began shortly after 11am as tournament officials looked to make up for time lost to rain earlier in the week, and Henin wasted no time either. She broke serve in the opening game of the match and twice more to take the set 6-1.

It looked as though Henin would cruise through the second set as well when she forged two break points in the fourth game. However, Vesnina, the world No67, won the next four points in a row to hold serve and Henin just had time to make it 3-2 before the heavens opened and forced the players off court.

Play was able to begin on schedule on the show courts at 1pm, and resumed on most of the outside courts at 1.15pm. Henin made sure she would not be delayed by the weather again, quickly breaking Vesnina in the eighth game of the second set for a 5-3 lead. And the French Open champion then served out to seal victory and a fourth round clash with either Alona Bondarenko or 15th seed Patty Schnyder.