Well we expected Serena Williams to face off against a Belgian in the finals of the Australian Open. But Nadia Petrova’s demolition of Kim Clijsters paved the road for Justine Henin to compete for another Grand Slam title, not even a month after her return to the game.
Henin faced off against Zheng Jie of China and didn’t waste a lot of time, easily winning 6-1, 6-0. Henin faced little resistance as she hit 23 winners to 3 against the speedy Chinese player. Despite her recent serving woes and a slight leg strain, Henin looked in fine form to capture her second Australian Open title.
Serena, on the other hand, faced a tough match against the resilient Na Li. Serena broke early and held serve to get to 5-4 in the first set before dropping serve to get things to 5-5. In the tiebreak, Serena managed a second serve ace to close out the first set.
The second set saw both players hold serve until at 4-5, Serena saw three match points slip away as Na Li fought back on every point. The second set tiebreak saw Serena lift her game and her serve as she served out the match with an ace to win 7-6(4), 7-6(1).
Serena has a busy weekend. She is still in the doubles with sister Venus so that means she could play the doubles final tomorrow and the women’s final Saturday night. Henin might be a slight favorite because of Serena’s double duty. But know this stat, Serena has won every Grand Slam final when she wins her semi. And based on her performance in the last two days, no one should count her out. Even in an even year.
Related posts:
Twitter
RSS
Facebook
{ 2 comments }
who is ur pick then?? serena? i dont have a clue and i dont know who i want to win….
Wait for my AO Final Preview to reveal all, but I will agree it’s hard to pick a winner as both player are coming in with so many intangibles. And the fact that it’s the first Grand Slam final meeting for them will add to the mix.
Comments on this entry are closed.