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.

Having been hammered 6-2, 6-0 by Serena Williams in Miami early last month, Henin, who had a straight sets win in the second round win over Yung-Jan Chan on Tuesday, was never allowed to relax by Safina, ranked 17th in the world.

Henin, 25, had to fight back from 4-2 down to win the first set 7-5, but the Belgian was unable to recover from again being 4-2 down in the next and lost the second set 6-3.

Having been beaten in all of her five previous matches against Henin, Safina raced into a 5-0 lead in the final set, but wasted three match points before finally taking the third 6-1.

Earlier in the day, last year's finalist Kuznetsova was humbled 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 by 15th seed Bondarenko.

There were no such problems for seventh seed Russian Elena Dementieva as she saw off compatriot Vera Dushevina 7-5, 6-3 to make the quarterfinals.

AFP