Henin cruises on trouble free birthday

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By Patrick Vignal

PARIS (Reuters) - Justine Henin, celebrating her 25th birthday in her favourite playground, advanced to the last 16 of the French Open with a 6-2 6-3 win over Italy's Mara Santangelo on Friday.

The world number one, chasing a fourth title here in five years, was never in trouble in her third-round match against the 31st-ranked Santangelo.

Both players looked clumsy at first and had traded early breaks when Henin managed the telling one in the sixth game.

Two games later Henin captured her opponent's serve again, wrapping up the set with a backhand pass after 36 minutes.

The Belgian broke the 25-year-old Santangelo straight away in the second set. The Italian broke back but her resistance soon faded as she dropped three games in a row.

With the Centre Court crowd chanting "Happy birthday", Henin sealed victory when her opponent fired a forehand long on the first match point.

Henin is bidding to become the first woman since Monica Seles in 1992, and only the second in the professional era, to win the title in three successive years.

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