The smell of revenge was in the air on a sunny Thursday in Indian Wells. Justine Henin-Hardenne and Guillermo Coria were seeking not only to secure semifinal berths, but also to avenge disappointing recent losses. Henin succeeded in her quest, but Coria showed that he still has a few lessons to learn from a venerable hard-court master.

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Justine Henin-Hardenne (1) def. Svetlana Kuznetsova (12), 6-4, 7-5
Quarterfinal
Previous head-to-head: Henin-Hardenne leads 4-1

?I like this kind of situation. I like the revenge.? So said world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne (pictured at right) on Thursday, as she contemplated the chance to avenge her only loss of the season. Thirteen days ago on the shores of the Persian Gulf, the fast-rising 18-year-old Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova had edged Henin, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, in the Doha semifinals.

Today the Belgian star got her revenge, but it wasn?t easy. After a slow start, Kuznetsova used her powerful forehand and strong serving to cause Henin a lot of grief, and top seed had to dig deep to win in two tough sets.

As motivated as Henin was for this encounter, she admitted, ?I was a little nervous -- a lot -- this morning.? However, she showed no nerves in the early games. Henin started the match brilliantly, and sped to a 4-0 lead. She was hitting with great depth and pace, and cracked a number of backhand returns that handcuffed the young Russian.

Then Henin came back to earth. Kuznetsova got her teeth in the match, and began blasting forehands that put Henin in a defensive posture. Kuznetsova got on the scoreboard, and then broke serve at 5-2 when Henin overhit a forehand on break point. Serving for the set at 5-4, the Belgian was again in trouble, falling behind 0-30. But Justine fought back to earn a set point, which she converted when Kuznetsova struck an errant forehand. Henin pushed forth her trademark cry of ?Allez!?, and skipped to her cha ir with the first set in hand.

The second set again saw Henin take an early lead. The powerfully-built Kuznetsova, hammering those forehands and making Henin scramble, fought back from 1-3 down to lead 4-3. By this time the points were entertaining. Kuznetsova controlled the forehand rallies, while in backhand exchanges Henin used her famous one-hander to pound Sveta?s less solid backhand side.

Immediately after Kuznetsova held to level the score at 4-4, a lines judge conferred with chair umpire Lynn Welch, who then warned Henin for receiving illegal coaching from her coach, Carlos Rodriguez. Henin said after the match that she thought it was the first such violation she has received in her career.

According to Henin?s version of the events, ?He just told me, ?Be aggressive, go at the net.?? Justine added a bit disingenuously, ?He just try to, you know, encourage me. I think it wasn?t really coaching.? But Justine went on to make the valid point that the coaching rule is inconsistently applied. ?It was a little bit hard for me, a tough decision, giving me a warning, because I think we could see in different matches that it was worse than that.? Indeed, we often sit near the players? coaches, and th ere is an awful lot of unsanctioned coaching going on during matches.

Coaching or not, Kuznetsova had Henin in difficulty with the Belgian serving at 4-5, but was unable to convert three set points. Henin hit a shaky double fault in this game, and was down 15-40. Henin admitted that she was feeling the pressure at this stage. ?She was playing much, much better, long rallies. She has a great forehand. That wasn?t easy.? Justine added, ?Even if I?m the number one I can be nervous sometimes.?

Henin saved the first set point, dominating a backhand rally. At 30-40 Kuznetsova wasted a great opportunity -- Justine delivered a weak, 71 mph second serve, but Sveta drove her forehand return into the net. Three deuces ensued, but Henin could not finish off the game. Then Kuznetsova earned a third set point and again played it poorly, mis-hitting a forehand that landed in the doubles alley. Justine finally put the game away after five deuces with a well placed service winner to the backhand side. This levelled the score at 5-5, and Kuznetsova had wasted a glorious chance to force a third set.

Justine then carried out that controversial coaching advice, and played an aggressive, attacking game to break Kuznetsova at 5-5. At 15-30 she came in behind a return and struck a deep forehand volley. The athletic Kuznetsova did the splits, à la Kim Clijsters, in an attempt to retrieve, but her desperation forehand was long. Henin attacked the net once again at 15-40, and Kuznetsova netted her forehand pass. Break in hand, Henin would now serve for the match.

Nothing was coming easy for Henin, and closing the match was no exception. Kuznetsova had two points to force a tie-break. On the first she committed a backhand error, and on the second Henin wrong-footed Svetlana with a backhand winner. On Henin?s first match point, when Kuznetsova sent a backhand into the net, the very relieved Belgian had her hard-won revenge.

So it?s on to the semis for Justine Henin-Hardenne, and another test against a player who has beaten her fairly recently, 4th seed Anastasia Myskina. Today Myskina was trapped in the Conchita Martinez spin cycle for 2 hours and 17 minutes, and the Russian was very relieved to escape with a win.

Martinez, who likes the slow hard courts in Indian Wells and was a semifinalist here last year, was on her best form, moving well and bedevilling Myskina with an assortment of spins, looping shots and hard forehand drives. Myskina often looked confused and frustrated, especially during a bad patch where she surrendered a 7-6, 2-0 lead, losing six straight games to drop the second set. ?Just completely felt so tired,? explained Myskina. ?Just lost my concentration. But then I realized that I play to go to the semifinals,? she added with a smile, ?so maybe I should fight.? Fight she did, as she turned more aggressive to win out in the end.

Myskina has had some success against Henin, with two wins in six tries, but she is aware the task will be difficult. ?She?s the best right now,? said Myskina. ?So I have to do my best, even play 200%.?

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Andre Agassi (5) def. Guillermo Coria (4), 6-4, 7-5
Quarterfinal
Previous head-to-head: Agassi leads 3-1

There was another player with revenge on his mind today. In last year?s U.S. Open quarterfinals, Andre Agassi (pictured at right) had knocked out Guillermo Coria in straight sets. Two days ago Coria seemed quite intense about the rematch. ?At the Open I was hurt in my thigh,? he said then, ?but this time I?m fine, and I?m planning to win.? It was not to be, as Agassi was extremely sharp in a straight set win, thanks to key breaks late in each set. The entertaining match was witnessed by best evening crowd of the tournament so far, just over 13,000.

Coria?s plan was to try to out-Agassi Agassi. Hugging the baseline, the small, slightly-built Argentine tried to work the point and create openings with his down-the-line shots. But Agassi showed that even at age 33 he is still the master of this strategy, and was striking the ball with more pace and precision than his opponent. Agassi?s return game was also on song, and Coria?s weaker serves were often punished. As well, Andre came to net 25 times to finish points with volleys, a tactic that Coria has y et to adopt regularly.

Agassi broke open a close first set by breaking Coria at 4-4. At 30-30 in this game, Agassi hit a deep forehand that Coria appeared to think was going to land out. He realized the error too late. The ball landed on the line and Guillermo?s desperation swing failed to make contact. This set up a break point on which Coria netted a forehand. Agassi then served out the set, nailing a forehand past a scrambling Coria on his first set point.

The crowd-pleasing, up-tempo tennis continued in the second set. Midway through the set Coria tracked down an Agassi lob and made a spectacular between-the-legs reply. Unfortunately for the Argentine, Agassi had followed the lob to the net and knocked off the easy volley.

Agassi?s key break in the second set came at 5-5. At 0-30, Agassi surprised Coria by coming to net behind a second serve return, and scored with a drop volley. Coria got the score back to 30-40, but here, Agassi ended a long rally by spanking a deep forehand that forced a Coria error.

Agassi served out the match at 15 with no worries, nailing a 122 mph ace on his first match point. Clearly pleased with his strong performance, he grinned and pumped his fists toward his entourage, and of course gave the large pro-Agassi crowd his signature four-corner bow. Make the final: 6-4, 7-5, and a Saturday semifinal date with world number one Roger Federer.

Federer, who has lost just 15 games in his 4 matches, destroyed yet another opponent this afternoon. This time it was Juan Ignacio Chela, by a score of 6-2, 6-1.

Andre was not overly specific about his game plan for Federer. ?You know, I?m just going to have to hit my shots. Handling my ball is going to be different from handling another guy?s ball? so I hope I can present some problems for him.?

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Doubles! Doubles!

The most angry athlete on court today may have been a chap named Paul Hanley, who was teamed with fellow Australian Wayne Arthurs in men?s doubles. Hanley was in large part responsible for his team?s 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 quarterfinal loss to defending champions Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor, as he double-faulted on set point in the second set and was broken at love in the final game of the match. When it was over, the unfortunate Hanley slammed his racquet, flung his cap to the ground, smacked a ball high out of the stadium, and screamed up a storm.

In the men?s doubles semifinal tomorrow, Knowles/Nestor will take on a talented French duo, Arnaud Clément/Sébastien Grosjean. The undersized Frenchmen were responsible for the ouster of the top-seeded Bryan twins in the second round. The other semi will pit Team Zimbabwe, Wayne Black/Kevin Ullyett, against the potent second-seeded pair of Mahesh Bhupathi/Max Mirnyi.

There was an excellent crowd at Stadium 2 for the first women?s doubles semifinal between the world?s top-ranked team, Virgina Ruano Pascual/Paula Suarez, and the popular American combination of Lindsay Davenport/Corina Morariu. Ruano/Suarez form a wonderfully cohesive unit, and their teamwork was telling in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win. The key game came late in the third set, when some telling Ruano forehand returns helped to break Morariu?s serve.

In the final, Ruano/Suarez will challenge the winner of tomorrow?s all-Russian semi between Anastasia Myskina/Vera Zvonareva and Svetlana Kuznetsova/Elena Likhovtseva

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Quotable quotes

Anastasia Myskina told the press that her serve is being affected by shoulder pain. ?I had a small tear in my shoulder at the beginning of my year. Now it just felt really sore because I play a lot of matches in the last couple of weeks.? For the time being she does not seem too concerned about the sore shoulder affecting her performance in tomorrow night?s semifinal. ?No, I?m not worried at all. I?m going to have a treatment, going to have the whole day almost. So I am going to be all right, fo r sure.?