Henin Takes Open In Straight Sets
by: Joe McDonald | Publisher and Editor-in-Chief | Sunday, September 9, 2007
FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY – The Roger Federer express may be rolling down Flushing Meadows today, but the Justine Henin super train was as equally impressive last night.
And the Mens’ No. 1 may have trouble mimicking his female counterpart’s performance in his Final against Novak Djokovic.
Becoming the first women to win a Grand Slam, while beating both of the Williams sisters, the 25 year-old Belgian put on the best Womens’ Final performance in 31 years with a 6-1, 6-3 drubbing of the No. 4 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
“I've played very well on the important points, said Henin, who didn’t lose a set this whole Open. “I could take control from the beginning of the match. I never stopped being aggressive and took the opportunities on her serve. She did mistakes when she probably couldn't do that mistakes.”
Taking control from the first set, Henin immediately broke Kuznetsova’s serve twice in the first set to go up 3-0. While being able to hold serve herself, the No. 1 seed put the Russian on her heals and easily cruised to a 6-1 win.
Being up so early also allowed Henin to take more risks, but because of her 5-6 size had some trouble and double faulted seven times during the match with four aces converted for 57% on first serves.
Yet that didn’t matter because she held serve throughout the whole match.
“You get a little bit like she gets a little bit like a break or something” said Kuznetsova, who will be No. 2 in the world when the new WTA rankings come out on Monday. “I think she's getting more relaxed and she plays better. This is very tough. She plays a pretty unusual game.”
Henin style actually made it tough for her 22 year-old opponent. Although she had more luck in the second set, she couldn’t convert on the forehand and had trouble on the break points, even though Henin was allowing her back in games with double faults.
And when it was 5-3, Henin double faulted three times to go down 15-40, but an ace and a few shots later, the Belgian put together a lob over Kuznetsova’s head to win it.
“I'm really proud not being that tall and I can compete and be the best player in the world,” Henin said. “Not a lot of people really thought I could do it, and that's why I'm really proud of it because probably [my coach] Carlos [Rodriguez] has been the only one that told me every day, 'You can do it, you can be the No. 1 player in the world.' Not a lot of people thought I could win this Open with the draw I had, and I did it. It's amazing for me.”
Notes: This was the most lopsided Open Final since 1976 when Chris Everett beat Evonne Goolagong, 6-0 6-3…Henin won two of the four Grand Slams this year, with a win at the French Open. Serena Williams won Australia, where Henin didn’t play due to her divorce and Venus Williams took Wimbledon after Henin lost to Marian Bartoli in the Semifinals…This was her seven Grand Slam title.
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