Williams – Henin rivalry renewed as they reach Australian Open Final

Thursday, 28 January 2010 00:00

WOMEN’S SINGLES
Serena Williams and Justine Henin each denied a Chinese first appearance in a Grand Slam final.

In the first Women’s semi-final, Serena Williams (USA) again showed her resilience and her will to win, despite struggling with her movement. She ended Li Na’s dream of a first Grand Slam final appearance with a hard fought 7-6(4), 7-6(1) win in over two hours on Thursday, avenging her sister Venus who had lost to the Chinese in three sets on Wednesday.

Sporting visible strapping on her ankles, wrist, thigh and calf, Williams managed her energy whenever possible, raising her game on critical points. In both tie-breakers, her game ascended to another level when she was chasing down balls that she previously let go. “I have everything bandaged,” noted Serena earlier in the week.

Williams started strong, immediately breaking Li who was making the expected errors in her Grand Slam semi-finals debut against an 11-time champion. The No 16 seed, however, soon settled down, matching Williams’ powerful groundstrokes and eventually breaking back to force a tiebreak.

Serena showed more and more frustration, committing 12 unforced errors in the first set, but closed it in 58 minutes with a 7-4 sudden death win.

The American’s movement became more labored as the second set progressed, with Li taking advantage of her opponent’s inability to change direction. But the Chinese’s 21 unforced errors while looking for winners allowed Williams to stay ahead, her massive serve helping her to shorten points in many occasions. Serena won 42 of 49 points for the match when her first serve got in.

Li kept fighting, saving four match points in sending the second set to another tiebreak. Williams responded ferociously, taking six consecutive points from 1-1 to end the contest and take the first spot in the Women’ s Singles final for a chance to defend her title.

She said, though, “I don’t come in a tournament trying to defend a title. I come into a tournament to win a title. That’s how I look at it.”

The second semi-final saw Belgium’s Justine Henin crush the other Chinese Zheng Jie 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes. Henin’s impressive comeback is almost complete as she crabbed the second Australian Open’s final second spot in only he rsecond tournament since coming out of retirement after a 20 months break.

Henin will face old foe Serena Williams Saturday, for their first matchup in a Grand slam final.

Zheng, who reached one previous Grand Slam semi-final in Wimbledon (2008), started the match holding serve, but it would be a short-lived success. Henin dominated from the second game of the match to win 12 in a row, closing the deal within the hour.

The first set was a little tighter than the second, as Zheng fought hard to hold serve on a couple of occasions, but a relentless Henin produced the winners at key moments, blazing through the first in 27 minutes.

Henin kept attacking Zheng’s serve in the second set, and under constant pressure the Chinese failed to hold to lose it 6-0.

Zheng didn’t give the match away to her Belgian opponent, she only made one more unforced error than Henin in the whole match, but only notched three winners to Henin’s 23.

Henin’s victory sets up a much-anticipated final between the former world No 1 and Williams, the current top-ranked player.

The two champions have met 13 times in the past, with Williams leading the series 7-6, but never in a Grand Slam final. Serena owns eleven GS titles to Justine’s seven, and their first meeting in a final is very intriguing. A wounded Williams faces Henin who reached that stage in her second tournament since she came back, and might not be yet mentally tough enough to stand the pressure in an event of such magnitude.

“...I’m so happy to play against her because if I want to win another Grand Slam, I’ll have to beat the best player of the world. And that’s just the biggest challenge I could get,” Henin said. “I have to be honest, I didn’t really expect that. But now that’s a reality that’s coming. I will try to be at my best.”

Williams, after struggling with injuries throughout the tournament, is just pleased to be in the final with an opportunity to win her 12th Grand Slam single title, more than any other woman in the Open era.

“I’m happy to still be alive, and one of the last two standing. So it’s good.” Serena said. And, when asked about her opponent, she was full of praise for Henin.

“What qualities don’t she have? She has everything from really a good serve, which you might not think, but she has a really good serve, to both great backhand and forehand.”

Saturday night we’ll know if Henin can end Williams’ run of winning Australian Open finals, or if Williams is able to overcome her physical difficulties to add another record to her impressive resume.

I think Henin is capable to take advantage of Williams’ hampered movement, I’ll stick my neck out and choose the Belgium to win the title.

Check out the odds at BetPhoenix.com Sportsbook, and back your favorites in the last stages of the 2010 Australian Open.

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Williams – Henin rivalry renewed as they reach Australian Open Final

Williams – Henin rivalry renewed as they reach Australian Open Final

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