Henins Wins 3rd Sydney and 40th Carrer Title
Medibank International
2008-01-11
By Ben Rassieur
Justine Henin took a very close three set match against Svetlana Kuznetsova. This was the 103rd time the numbers 1 and 2 ranked players have faced each other in a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final, since the inception of computer rankings. The victory gave Henin her 40th career title and her 28th consecutive match.
The first set went rather quickly. Kuznetsova struck first by breaking Henin’s serve to go up 4-2. But Henin wuickly broke back. As they took court after the changeover the crowd began to unanimously cheer for Kuznetsova. Henin appeared a little annoyed by this and set out to win the crowd back. Her play in her service game had some in the crowd changing their allegiance. But Kuznetsova quickly won them back by winning a breakpoint to take the set.
Henin took the second set without facing a breakpoint. She increased her own serves effectivness while Kuznetsova’s serve struggled. Kuznetsova was inconsistent with her first serve, which allowed Henin to play with her second serve. When a player like Henin gets to playoff the second serve it’s never good for the opponent. And this set was no different. Henin broke Kuznetsova twice, once to open the set and again late in the set.
Henin pushed Kuznetsova right off the bat in the third set. But Kuznetsova was too powerful saving the breakpoint and taking the game. Kuznetsova stayed offensive in the next game and took advantage of Henin serving errors. But Henin was able to threaten again. She hit an amazing topspin lob that landed just on the line to get another breakpoint. But Kuznetsova escaped and closed the game out with some brilliant serves. Henin finally held serve to get back in the match at 3-1. Henin carried that momentum into the next game where she broke Kuznetsova at love. Then held to even things up at 3-all. Kuznetsova finally stopped the bleeding and held serve. But she wasted two break opportunities in the next game. Henin then broke and held, despite two double faults.
Henin’s serve was trouble for her most of the night. Her serve has been one of her weaker strokes and she focused on it during the off-season. “I worked very hard on my serve in the last few weeks, and it means it's not really very natural,” she said. “It's just adjustments. I just try to improve.”
Kuznetsova played her best match against Henin. And she was certainly proud of the improvements she’s made in her game. “I think I done better things to play against her than I done last time, so I think this is improvement for me,” she said. She’s also not too down on herself. As number 2 you can’t be mad to lose to number one after beating everyone else.
Both players look likely to meet again in two-weeks. They’re playing excellent tennis and their fitness looks to be there as well. But it will be a much bigger at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year.