Seeds Kuznetsova and Safina exit as draw opens for Henin

Justine Henin continued her impressive return to reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open on a day when two of the top three seeds fell out of the draw.

Henin is less than four weeks into her return from 20 months out of the game but is in sight of an eighth grand slam title after she fought off the challenge of fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 7-6 (7/4) 1-6 6-3.

Second seed Dinara Safina made a tearful exit after she was forced to withdraw from her match against Maria Kirilenko with a recurrence of the back injury that laid her low over the off-season.

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Safina was trailing 5-4 and 30-40 on serve when she retired and she said afterwards: "I cannot make any movement. Whatever I try to move, it hurts terribly."

Third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova became Nadia Petrova's second big-name scalp in two days after she lost 6-3 3-6 6-1 to the 19th seed.

Petrova's win came just two days after she thrashed US Open champion Kim Clijsters 6-0 6-1.

Petrova is now the only seed left in the bottom half of the draw and will take on wildcard entrant Henin after the returning Belgian kept her quest for a dream return alive.

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The former world No 1 did not have things all her own way, however, as Wickmayer raced through the second set in 29 minutes to level the match before Henin steadied to close out another energy-sapping contest.

"It wasn't easy. She played a great match," Henin said.

"Physically it was not easy for me. I missed two years so that's why I love being on the court now.

"It's a great feeling to be back. Everything is going so well."