Top seed Justine Henin of Belgium downed Russian Dinara Safina 6-0 and 6-2 on Sunday to set up a US Open quarter-final showdown with American Serena Williams.

 

Henin, the 2003 US Open champion, broke the 15th-seeded Safina seven times in the one-hour match.

 

"I didn't give a lot of free points. I was very aggressive, went to the net a lot on my serves," said Henin.

 

The 25-year-old Belgian will meet the eighth-seeded Williams in her third successive grand slam quarter-finals after beating the American in the French Open and at Wimbledon.

 

The eighth-seeded Williams, a two-times winner of the Open, leads their overall head-to-head series 6-5.

 

"We know each other pretty well," Henin said. "I know everyone was waiting for that match, and here we are."

 

"She's playing well and she's fighting for everything," Williams said of Henin after her 6-3, 6-4 win over Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli of France.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2007)