WIMBLEDON, England -- Justine Henin used her formidable backhand and clever angles to beat Russian Elena Vesnina 6-1 6-3 in the third round at Wimbledon.
The world number one, seeking her first Wimbledon crown to complete her grand slam collection, has had an easy ride into the second week at the All England Club and has spent less than three hours on court to get there.
She will face more of a challenge in the next round where she will take on 15th seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.
"It's going to be a long weekend now, but I'm glad I'm in the fourth round," Henin told a news conference. "I could do very good things during my first three matches. Especially today I'm very happy the way I played, very aggressive, very consistent."
Henin broke in the first game of the match before overpowering the world number 67 with some of her trademark backhands down the line.
The Belgian was 3-2 up in the second before rain interrupted play for an hour and a half. The Russian held her serve after the break before Henin whizzed through the next three games.
Henin said she had been glad of the straightforward matches because she had been a little tired coming into the grasscourt grand slam after her victory at Eastbourne the previous week.
"It's good I don't spend a lot of time on the court because physically I really need to rest a little bit," said Henin, who has not dropped a set so far.
She admitted she would love to win the one grand slam title that has so far eluded her but said that it was not something she thought about too much and that she treasured the French Open more.
"I still believe I can do it, but it's not an obsession for me," she said about winning Wimbledon. "I don't have anything to prove to anyone.
"I love this tournament, I like to be here ... but Paris remains the place where my heart is beating pretty hard," said the four-times Roland Garros champion.
Martina Hingis' luck finally ran out when she lost 6-4 6-2 to American Laura Granville in the third round.
The Swiss former champion had survived two match points in her opening tie against British wildcard Naomi Cavaday but she was unable to pull off a great escape.
Hingis, who said she was not fully fit, missed the French Open through injury and had pretty much written off her chances of repeating her 1997 triumph after her woeful display against Cavaday.
The ninth seed was proved right when she failed to last the distance against Granville and has now fallen in the third round on both her visits to the All England Club since making her comeback in 2006.
Hingis' defeat came on the notorious Court Two, nicknamed Wimbledon's "Graveyard of Champions" due to the amount of shock results on it.
Third seed Jelena Jankovic had to work hard to quell the challenge of Czech Lucie Safarova 5-7 7-6 6-2 to reach the fourth round.
The in-form Serb had dropped only four games in her two previous matches but she was caught out by the superior attacking tactics of Safarova for almost two sets.
The 20-year-old Czech trailed 3-1 in the first set before finding her range and she stunned Jankovic with a series of pin-point drive volleys.
After winning the first set on a double fault, Safarova kept up the pace in the second but Jankovic hung on to take it 7-4 in the tiebreak.
A 30-minute rain delay appeared to have come in the nick of time for Jankovic, who was struggling with a thigh strain and on resumption she ran away with the decider. An erring backhand from Safarova settled the high-quality contest.
Jankovic will next play France's Marion Bartoli in an attempt to reach the quarterfinals here for the first time.
Twice champion Serena Williams overpowered Venezuela's Milagros Sequera 6-1 6-0 to also reach the fourth round.
Seventh-seeded Williams utterly dominated the Centre Court against a demoralised opponent, who knew exactly what to expect after losing to the American at the French Open last month.
Williams, holder of eight grand slam titles, meets Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in the fourth round on her way to a possible quarterfinal clash with top seed Justine Henin.
Asked about meeting Henin, Williams said: "I have to win another match still. I have a very tough fourth round match. I have to get over that hump first." E-mail to a friend 
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