Williams through, Henin out

BERLIN: Serena Williams booked her quarterfinal berth at the German Open on Thursday with her 17th consecutive win but admitted she was just glad not to follow world NO 1 Justine Henin out of the tournament.

On a day of upsets, Henin suffered a shock third round exit at the hands of Russian Dinara Safina, while third seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova also crashed out after her third round defeat to Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko.

And defending champion Ana Ivanovic needed three sets to see off Austria's Sybille Bammer 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 as darkness fell at Berlin's Steffi Graf Stadium.