Justine Henin of Belgium falls during her match against Samantha Stosur of Australia during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris May 31, 2010. [Agencies]
PARIS - Justine Henin received a standing ovation on Monday as she walked off Court Suzanne Lenglen but it would have had a hollow ring for the Belgian after her script for a joyous French Open return had just been torn to shreds.
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Justine Henin of Belgium falls during her match against Samantha Stosur of Australia during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris May 31, 2010. [Agencies]
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Rafa Nadal stayed firmly on course for a fifth happy ending at Roland Garros though as the Spaniard matched world number one Roger Federer's feat of reaching the quarter-finals without dropping a set.
Shame then that Henin, one of the greatest exponents of claycourt tennis the world has seen, will be missing.
The four-times champion showed flashes of her old brilliance en route to the fourth round, her sublime backhand occasionally sparked and the old fire still burns inside.
But she never quite scaled the heights she reached when completing a rare hat-trick of titles here in 2007 and that was the case again on Monday when the 27-year-old lost 2-6 6-1 6-4 to Australia's Samantha Stosur.
Stosur, a surprise semi-finalist last year, sabotaged an eagerly-anticipated quarter-final between Henin and Serena Williams but was well worth her victory as she, not Henin, moved through to face the American world number one.
"I just wanted so much that the adventure could keep going," Henin told reporters after her 24-match winning streak at Roland Garros, albeit one interrupted her decision to "retire" for 20 months, told reporters.
"It's always difficult to lose, especially in a place I love as much as Roland Garros without showing your best tennis."
As grey clouds again blanketed the French capital Williams sped into the last eight with a 6-2 6-2 defeat of Israel's Shahar Peer despite a shocking start in which she handed over the opening seven points on Court Phillipe Chatrier.