Top seed Justine Henin received her toughest workout so far at this year's Australian Open with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4 win over Italy's Francesca Schiavone in the third round.
The world number one was pushed all the way in the first set and had to pull off some stunning shots to keep 25th seed Schiavone at bay before taking control in the second.
"It was really exciting, I was glad to win in two sets," Henin said.
"She's always given me a lot of trouble in the past and it was a tough third round for me so I'm glad to go through.
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"I'm happy, because I had pretty good reactions when I had to. I knew it was going to be a good fight."
Henin scored two early service breaks but Schiavone broke back each time, attacking the net in a bid to upset her opponent's rhythm and matching the Belgian's speed around the court.
But Henin showed why she is a seven-time Grand Slam champion as she found winning shots at critical points while the dogged Italian created chances but repeatedly fell just short.
She was finally defeated in one hour 41 minutes, receiving hearty applause from the Melbourne Park crowd for her committed efforts to upset Henin, who won the Australian title in 2004.
Henin faces a possible quarterfinal match up with Russian fifth seed Maria Sharapova but said she was did not want to get ahead of herself and was concentrating on her next tie against Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan.
"I hate to look too far, I have my fourth round in two days and I just want to get ready, improve my game and get confident."
The victory took Henin's unbeaten runs to 31 matches, a sequence that includes winning the US and French Opens.
She acknowledged the streak was bound to end but hoped it was not before she claimed her second crowd in Australia.
"It's a kind of pressure because one day or another I will lose," she said.
"I mean, that's the game. I hope it's going to be as late as possible.
Henin came back from the breakdown of her marriage to Pierre-Yves Hardenne and an emotional reconciliation with her family to become the most dominant player on the women's circuit since Steffi Graf 18 years ago.
"What I'm doing for... the last year is just great, I've been so consistent," she said.
"But every match is different. You have to start again all the time ... one day it will come that I'll not have a very good day. I hope it's not going to be for this tournament."
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