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French Open - Henin remains on course
French Open - Twice defending champion Justine Henin battled past arch-rival
Serena Williams 6-4 6-3 to book a semi-final date with Jelena Jankovic at the
French Open.
Henin and Williams played one hour and 18 minutes of beautiful tennis with
both the American eighth seed and the Belgian top seed pulling out all of the
stops in a series of wonderful rallies from the baseline and at the net.
The victory was sweet revenge for the top-ranked Henin, who lost to Williams
at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami earlier this year after failing to convert
on two match points.
Williams, who won the Australian Open in January, was unable to avenge the
memory of her own loss on Roland Garros' centre court in the 2003 semi-final
in a match that was marred by controversial line calls, a rain of boos from
the Paris crowd, and a tearful Williams leaving the court in frustration.
The Belgian, who missed the Oz Open because of her divorce, seemed more in
control of her emotions from the outset of the match keeping her cool despite
two difficult sets.
"I'm taking every match like a final, that's what I did today and that's what
I'm going to do on Thursday [in the semi-final]," she said after the match.
Henin came roaring out of the gate with a quick break of serve to 30 winning
a wonderful rally at the net to confirm the opening game.
After both players took easy holds, Henin struggled to keep on break at 2-1
in a beautiful game between two of the best players in the world.
The crowd let out consecutive gasps as Williams shanked a backhand volley at
the net and then Henin missed her own easy forehand volley to allow Serena to
get back to deuce.
The pair then exchanged a beautiful series of groundstrokes before Henin drew
her opponent in with a drop-shot and won the point with a perfect lob before
confirming serve with a gorgeous forehand winner across court from the
baseline to take a 3-1 lead.
Serena came right back with her own hold to love, before pressing the Belgian
into giving up another break point. But again Henin held her nerve ripping a
forehand winner at the net to save the break before ultimately holding with a
wonderful cross-court backhand winner into the furthest corner of the court.
Williams then had another easy held to love hitting a booming ace, and
despite the early stutter the American looked the better of the two players
in the early going.
She then played incredibly aggressively on Henin's serve, attacking the net
on the opening two points and hitting consecutive error on two difficult
shots. Henin then committed her third double-fault, but finally collected the
service hold to 15 which could have easily gone the other way.
Williams continued to cruise on her own service games with a hold to
15 hitting another ace before taking the game on a big unreturnable
first-serve.
Serving for the set Henin hit her third ace to set up a triple set point
before shanking the ball horribly off-course to inspire confidence in the few
American faithful left in Paris to watch their last challenger in either
bracket.
But the Belgian outlasted Serena in another long baseline rally, ripping a
forehand winner cross-court to hold to 15 and take the opening set 6-4.
Henin again made life very difficult for the Australian Open champion
pressing Williams to deuce before booking a break chance with a lunging
volley at the net for the passing winner.
The world number one then took the opening break again by forcing Serena into
committing the error.
The American released some pent up rage slamming her racket into the ground
in frustration and inspiring a chorus of boos from the partisan Philippe
Chatrier crowd, who have yet to forget the incident between the two women
from the 2003 final.
The outburst may have been slightly cathartic for Williams as she immediately
won the audience back by ripping a huge forehand to book a triple break point
and earning the quick break back as Henin hit a fifth double-fault.
The next service game for Williams was a battle, however, as she barely
avoided surrendering a break point when a forehand return was ruled to have
landed just on the baseline after a line judge re-examined the call. The
American did manage to hold from there.
But after Henin held with little trouble in the fourth, Williams gave up a
second break in a difficult service game that she had two chances to seal.
Williams seemed to have recovered a bit of her nerve, pressing Henin into the
error after a long baseline rally, but the Belgian then won four straight
points for the easy hold to 15 and claim a 4-2 lead.
The American's confidence seemed to be shattered from there as she handed
Henin a 0-30 lead with two more errors before taking confidence from a Henin
error and levelling at 30-30 with a gorgeous lunging volley at the net and
ultimately holding with an ace and a service winner.
Henin had the match firmly in hand at that point holding to love on an
absolute rocket of a cross-court forehand winner from the baseline to force
the American to serve to stay in the match.
Williams appeared utterly demoralised from there, hitting her second
double-fault and committing another unforced forehand error to give the
three-time champion a 30-15 lead and send the crowd into a tizzy.
Henin was then gifted two match points, and was able to revel in delight at
the first as Serena struck another forehand into the net to hand the set to
the defending champion 6-3, along with the match and a place in the
semi-finals opposite Serbia's Jankovic.
- Jeremy Stahl in Paris
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