Showdown set

MELBOURNE, Australia – Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova set up a quarterfinal showdown at the Australian Open, making quick work of overmatched opponents early today in sharp contrast to the long Saturday session at Melbourne Park.

The top-ranked Henin beat Hsieh Su-wei, the first Taiwanese player through to the fourth round of a Grand Slam event, 6-2, 6-2 in 74 minutes to extend her winning streak to 32 matches.

“I never guess, I never choose,” Henin said of her prospective quarterfinal. “I always know to beat her I have to be at my best. She’s a real fighter.

“She never gives up. She’s a champion. So I know that against her I will have to be 100 percent all the time.”

Sharapova routed No. 11 Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0 in 62 minutes.

The fifth-ranked Sharapova was expected to have a tough time against Dementieva, but broke her fellow Russian’s serve six of seven times, including at love to finish the match.

Their fast work followed the drama Saturday that started with a rare five-setter for Roger Federer and carried on until Lleyton Hewitt finished off Marcos Baghdatis not long before dawn today.

Day 6 at the Australian Open was a long, long journey. About one-third of the 15,000 people with tickets for the Saturday night session didn’t leave until Hewitt smacked a forehand past Marcos Baghdatis at 4:33 a.m. Melbourne time today.

Federer needed 4 hours, 27 minutes to beat 49th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 in an extended afternoon match that pushed back the night session at least two hours.

David Nalbandian and Juan Carlos Ferrero stepped back on the same court to begin today’s schedule little more than 6 hours after Hewitt and Baghdatis walked off.

Former No. 1 Ferrero beat 10th-seeded Nalbandian 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in a third-round match postponed by rain Saturday. In another third-rounder, No. 5 David Ferrer beat American Vincent Spadea 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. Ferrero will play Ferrer in the fourth round.

No. 24 Jarkko Nieminen beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (9), 6-3 in a fourth-round match.

In women’s third-round matches carried over from Saturday: No. 9 Daniela Hantuchova beat Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-3, No. 14 Nadia Petrova defeated Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 7-6 (8), and Marta Domachowska overcame China’s Li Na 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Wedged between the epic five-setters Saturday, Venus Williams finished off Sania Mirza in straight sets after declining an invitation to either postpone that match or move to Vodafone Arena, the other stadium with a roof at Melbourne Park.

When Hewitt tossed the ball up for his first serve it was 11:47 p.m. – the latest start for a singles match in the Australian Open. He broke Baghdatis on his fifth match point 4:45 later to win 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-3.

“Obviously, an incredible day of tennis,” Hewitt said. “I mean, for Roger Federer to go five sets – how often does that happen?”

Hewitt will play No. 3 Novak Djokovic, who ousted Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 to leave James Blake as the best U.S. hope at the Open.

Blake rallied from two sets down and then a double-break in the fourth to beat Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Next for him is 6-foot-5 Marin Cilic, a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-1 winner over last year’s losing finalist, Fernando Gonzalez.