Henin battles past Sharapova

Justine Henin recovered from the loss of her first set at the French Open for five years to beat Maria Sharapova.

Four-time champion Henin looked in real danger of her first defeat in the tournament since 2004 when 12th seed Sharapova had three points for a double-break in the deciding set after the contest resumed this afternoon at one set all.

But the Belgian 22nd seed hit back to win five of the next six games and seal a 6-2 3-6 6-3 victory after two hours and seven minutes spread over two days on Philippe Chatrier Court.

Last night had seen Henin equal the French Open record of 40 consecutive sets before Sharapova ended the run to level the match.

That was after an atrocious start to the match by the Russian, who had surrendered her serve twice as Henin moved 4-0 ahead.

But it was a different story this morning, with Sharapova picking up where she had left off yesterday.

Her power helped her to two break points in the opening game, Henin going long on the second.

Sharapova should have taken a stranglehold when she got to 0-40 in game three but Henin held after saving four break points in total.

It proved a double-whammy for the Russian, who immediately surrendered her own serve.

Two further errors gifted Henin a fourth game in a row, seemingly completing a remarkable turnaround.

But the Belgian - playing her first French Open since coming out of retirement - crashed from 40-15 on her own serve, her ninth double fault of the match getting the decider back on serve.

A contest which had been notable more for its errors than winners then began to hot up but it was a backhand into the net from Sharapova that handed Henin what proved a decisive break in game eight.

The Belgian held her nerve to serve it out and avenge her controversial defeat at the 2008 Australian Open - a match that proved her last at a grand slam before announcing her retirement.

Henin will play seventh seed Samantha Stosur of Australia in round four on Monday.

Speaking after the match, Henin said: "I had no more choice. Sometimes when you're 0-0, you know you control a little bit.

"But when you're under pressure a little bit, you don't have any other choice."

"She started the set very well. She's a champion, so as soon as you give her the opportunities - if you play a little bit too short and you don't take the opportunities - she takes them."

Sharapova refused to be down on herself for letting her final-set lead slip but felt she should have done better in the next game, which saw her drop serve.

"At 2-1, I was a little bit more tentative than I was in the first three games," she said.

"She started being a little bit more aggressive.

"From the beginning, I felt like I was the one that was more aggressive of the two of us, and that kind of changed a little bit and changed the momentum of the match."