Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium returns a volley to Karolina Sprem of Croatia during their third round match of the 2006 Family Circle Cup tennis tournament in Charleston, South Carolina April 13, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters)

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Karolina Sprem of Croatia 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina on Thursday.

    Henin-Hardenne took more than 90 minutes to finish the match on her way to the victory. She will face Dinara Safina of Russia on Friday.

    Safina won 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-2 over Julia Vakulenko, a Ukrainian qualifier who knocked off 10th-seeded Jelena Jankovic earlier in the week.

    Second-seeded Nadia Petrova put away Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-3, and will take on Catalina Castano of Colombia, who led 5-4 when Marion Bartoli of France retired with an inflamed knee.

    No. 3-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland turned back Mara Santangelo of Italy 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3 to face Nathalie Dechy of France, who defeated Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia 6-2, 6-3.

    Fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia downed Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain 6-2, 6-1 in 57 minutes. Enditem