Henin suffers shock defeat in Berlin

World number one and top seed Justine Henin was a shock third round casualty at the German Open on Thursday as she was beaten by Russia's Dinara Safina after a marathon third-round struggle.

Third seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova also crashed out after her third round defeat at the hands of Alona Bondarenko, but the shock of the day saw Henin fall 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 her second defeat in the last three games.

Safina had five match points in the third set at the end of the two hours 34 minute marathon and broke Henin eight times in total as the Belgian's poor run this season continues.