Zheng is into the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the second time, following her efforts at Wimbledon in 2008 and is relishing a contest against one of her heroes.
Williams, whose last grand slam title came at Wimbledon in 2008, booked her place in the third round with a comfortable 6-3 6-3 win over Alize Cornet on Rod Laver Arena.
China's Jie Zheng, who was the first Asian player to reach at grand slam semifinal at Wimbledon in 2008, progressed to the semifinals in Birmingham after beating Italian fourth seed Roberta Vinci 6-3 5-7 6-4.
The unseeded Henin marked her performance with trademark steadiness against a nervous opponent who could never match her earlier performances and was playing her second grand slam semifinal after reaching the last four at Wimbledon in 2008.
Zheng, a doubles expert, then produced a stunning run to the Wimbledon semifinals in 2008.
The Briton, the 2008 Wimbledon junior champion, cruised to a 6-3 6-1 triumph in 65 minutes.
The last time Nadal missed a major tournament because of his knees was in 2009, when he didn't attempt to defend his 2008 Wimbledon title.
And perhaps the high point of the Federer-Nadal rivalry (renewed for the 29th installment on Thursday evening) was their 2008 Wimbledon final, which took four hours and 48 minutes.
Nadal, the six-time grand slam winner and reigning Australian Open champion, has been coming off a two-month lay-off due to knee tendinitis, a break that kept him from defending his 2008 Wimbledon crown.
That 2008 Wimbledon twilight five-setter between Federer and Nadal set a glorious standard, but since then there's been a steady stream of classics, on all surfaces, between the big three, and even Murray, too.
They have won several WTA doubles titles, including Wimbledon 2006 and the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Seeded eighth, former Wimbledon finalist Nalbandian has struggled for much of 2008 but has often performed well in the closing weeks of the season and looks to be rediscovering his best form again.
The world No. 2 had to work hard for victory against Errani, who she defeated in last year's French Open to achieve her career grand slam, having previously won Wimbledon (2004), the U.S. Open (2006) and the Australian Open (2008).
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