Henin Books Spot in Her First Final of the Year

Medibank International
2008-01-10
By Ben Rassieur


The two-time Sydney champ, Justine Henin defeated Ana Ivanovic in a grueling battle on center court at the Medibank International.  Henin struggled a bit with her serve, going 47% on first serves with 11 double faults.  But the weather conditions were tough for both players, “The conditions were pretty tough.  No, it's not as hot as it is in Melbourne, but still it was quite difficult on the court and pretty windy,” Henin said to the press.

The first set was a bit strange.  Henin, who rolled over her last opponent, was suddenly struggling with her first serve.  But Ivanovic was unable to capitalize on the situation only earning 4 breakpoints and converting non.  Undoubtedly the groundstrokes of Henin played a part.

The second set saw a role reversal as Ivanovic won her first set ever off of Henin.  She only faced two breakpoints, saving one.  But she was able to break the Belgian three times in her five attempts.  The two-break lead was all the Serb needed as Henin continued to struggle with her serve late in the set.  Ivanovic also began to play more aggressive trying to over power the slight Henin.

In the third set there was a marked improvement in both players’ games.  But as Henin’s serve returned she held the upper hand.  Her serve placement was so good in the third that she won an unbelievable 93% of her first serves.  But Ivanovic’s strong shots kept her in the match.  Despite her powerful strokes the young Serb dropped the only breakpoint of the third.  And that was enough for Henin.  In the final game of the match the crowd was almost unanimously behind, “Justine!”  And their chants drowned out the normally fanatic Serbs.

This was Ivanovic’s third three-setter this week.  So she got a lot of experience in tight matches in her only warm-up for the Aussie Open.  But her off-season preparations seem to be paying off.  “I was really happy also that today for almost whole match except that last game I managed to keep my level,” she said, “Just the last game I would play differently.”  Now Ivanovic is off to Melbourne to get used to the even hotter conditions of the next two weeks.

Henin will face either Nicole Vaidisova or Svetlana Kuznetsova in the Final.