Henin in; Nadal out

NEW YORK – A sullen Serena Williams exited the locker room, her racket bag slung across two shoulders, her U.S. Open over after a third consecutive Grand Slam loss to Justine Henin.

While Williams waited for a courtesy car at the player exit, her mother, who also is her coach, put an arm around her neck for a quick, consoling hug. Mom whispered something, and Williams looked straight ahead, apparently still not in any mood to dissect the defeat an hour after it ended.

Finding all the right angles and hanging tough on long rallies, Henin beat Williams 7-6 (3), 6-1 Tuesday night to reach the U.S. Open semifinals.

That high-powered match was followed by the biggest surprise so far on the men’s side: No. 2 Rafael Nadal’s body broke down and he lost to No. 15 David Ferrer, who reached his first U.S. Open quarterfinal. Ferrer’s 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory means there won’t be a third consecutive major final between Nadal and No. 1 Roger Federer.

Nadal is a three-time French Open champion and a two-time Wimbledon finalist, but he has yet to solve the hard courts of Flushing Meadows.

Ferrer did something one rarely sees: He ran the No. 2-seeded Nadal ragged.

After losing the next-to-last game, Nadal winced and dropped to the court, sitting with legs stretched out and head bowed.

After missing a shot late in the third set, the left-hander flexed his racket hand repeatedly. Then, with Ferrer serving at 1-1, 40-30 in the fourth, Nadal called for a trainer and had him put some ice on that left finger.

Nadal injured his left knee during a practice session the day before the tournament began and considered withdrawing. He struggled through the first round, then looked much fitter in his next two matches.

He wore thick strips of white tape below both knees against Ferrer, but that didn’t appear to be an issue this time.

Ferrer, however, was.

He leads the ATP in most major returning statistics and on this night broke Nadal seven times, including to go up 4-2 in the fourth set. He also matched Nadal’s court coverage and big groundstrokes throughout, often ending points with a flick of his wrist and a loud grunt.

The victory put Ferrer in his first U.S. Open quarterfinal, where he will meet No. 20 Juan Ignacio Chela. The other quarterfinal matches are No. 1 Federer vs. No. 5 Andy Roddick, No. 3 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 17 Carlos Moya and No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko vs. No. 10 Tommy Haas.

Nadal beat Federer in the past two French Open finals and lost to him in the past two Wimbledon finals but never has been past the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open.

Williams’ postmatch news conference began with a query about whether she could explain what went wrong. Her reply: “No. I can’t. I’m sorry. Any more questions?”

“She made a lot of lucky shots,” Williams said a moment later, a white baseball cap pulled low over her eyes, “and I made a lot of errors.”

The formerly No. 1-ranked Williams is the active leader among women with eight Grand Slam titles, but current No. 1 Henin now has a chance to claim her seventh major.

“I was a bit concerned during the first set because I wasn’t aggressive enough. Then from the tiebreak until the end, I played unbelievable tennis,” Henin said after compiling a 30-17 edge in winners.

Her next opponent could be another Williams: Serena’s older sister, Venus, faces No. 3 Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals tonight. Not much question for whom Henin will be rooting – she’s 1-7 against Venus Williams, 7-0 against Jankovic.

“Every match is a final for me now,” Henin said. “If I have to play Venus, it will be a good challenge for me to play both sisters in the same tournament.”

Only once has someone beaten Serena and Venus Williams at a single Grand Slam: Martina Hingis did it at the 2001 Australian Open.