Monday, Apr 15, 2002
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Tennis
Williams, had trouble with Anne Kremer of Luxembourg in the first set, but closed out the match 7-5, 6-0. Henin, who played her quarterfinal match earlier in the day, was leading third-seeded Jelena Dokic 6-2, 4-1 when the Yugoslav retired with a stomach virus. The final will be the third time this year that Williams and Henin have met in a final, with-the American winning both of their prior meetings. Williams holds an overall 4-1 career edge over Henin with the Belgian winning their first meeting, and only one on clay, at Berlin last year. ``This surface will be different and that could be good for me,'' Henin said. ``The last time we played was at home for me and it was 6-3 in the third and a very good match. Maybe I was a little bit afraid to finish the match at the end. But I'm really happy to be in another final here.'' Henin, who beat Silvia Farina Elia 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, was on top of Dokic from the outset. The Belgian opened up to a 4-0 lead in the first set before Dokic held serve in the fifth and seventh games. Henin jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second set and kept the momentum going until Dokic walked away from the match. ``I was a little bit surprised because I didn't know she was sick,'' Henin said. ``I was ready to finish the match as soon as possible. It was not bad timing for me because I had played another match earlier in the day. Now I can get some rest and be fit for tomorrow.'' Dokic had secured a semifinal berth on Saturday with a 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 quarter-final victory over 10th-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia. In the other semifinal the 29th-ranked Kremer, who had beaten fifth-seeded Sandrine Testud of France 7-5, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, manipulated herself into a position to serve for the first set at 5-3 against Williams. However the World No. 2, despite having problems with her first serve (48 per cent) and making 18 unforced errors, fought back to capture the set. ``I'm an older, wiser and a better player,'' said Williams, explaining her turn around in the 65-minute match. ``At 5-3, maybe I was a little bit down, but I got it back and raised my game. I got to 3-0 in the second set so quickly, I think she was wondering where the match had gone.'' — Reuters
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