The Hindu : Henin slams the door on Serena

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 06, 2003

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Sport - Tennis

Henin slams the door on Serena

Justine Henin-Hardenne essays a forehand return en route to shocking top-seeded Serena Williams in the second semifinal. — AP

PARIS June 5. Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne ended the Grand Slam dominance of Serena Williams when she stunned the defending champion 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the French Open semifinals on Thursday.

Henin-Hardenne will play compatriot Kim Clijsters in her second Grand Slam final on Saturday.

The fourth seed achieved one of the biggest upsets in recent years to hand World No. 1 Serena her first defeat at a Grand Slam event since she lost to sister Venus in the 2001 U.S. Open final.

Serena missed the 2002 Australian Open through injury but won at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open later that year before completing her collection at Melbourne Park in January.

Before Thursday's result, Serena had gone 33 Slam matches without losing. But Henin-Hardenne, her classical backhand working to perfection, dominated the first set and, after conceding the second, held herself together in a nerve-plagued decider to seal an enthralling victory.

Her meeting with Clijsters in the final guarantees Belgium its first ever Grand Slam winner.

In the first semifinal, Clijsters benefited from a little luck to erase a set point in the opening set and beat unseeded Nadia Petrova 7-5, 6-1.

Clijsters was two points from the title in the 2001 final before losing to Jennifer Capriati.

The No. 2 seed Clijsters struggled with an erratic forehand early and lost the first service break to trail 5-4. Facing set point in the next game, Clijsters hit a backhand drop shot that clipped the net, and then fell on Petrova's side for a winner.

Consecutive backhands into the net by Petrova gave Clijsters the game to make it 5-all, and the turnabout deflated the Russian. She was broken again two games later to lose the set as Clijsters began to pull away, winning nine of the final 10 games.

``I was a little bit down when she touched the let cord,'' Petrova said. ``Definitely I think those things can really turn sets around and matches around,'' Clijsters said. ``I was struggling a little with my forehand and not feeling the rhythm. Once I broke her that first time, I felt comfortable I could do it.''

Petrova played with impressive poise at the start. But the net cord on set point wasn't her only missed opportunity — she converted just one of eight break-point chances, all in the opening set.

Clijsters won 10 consecutive points to lead 4-1 in the second set. On match point she hit another backhand drop shot, and this time it didn't clip the net, landing for a clean winner.

Bhupathi-Likhovtseva in final

Shrugging off Wednesday's men's doubles defeat at the hands of his estranged partner Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, partnering Russian Elena Likhovtseva, reached the mixed doubles final here on Thursday. In the semifinals they beat the top-seeded pair of Todd Woodbridge of Australia and Paola Suarez of Argentina 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Earlier the third seed duo of Bhupathi and Likhovtseva, reigning Wimbledon champions, outplayed unseeded Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) and Corina Morariu (U.S.) 6-4, 6-3.

Bhupathi looked sharp with his service and moved well and took control of the game and gave no chance to the more experienced Bjorkman who was completely out of touch.

Earlier India's Sanaa Bhambri and Sania Mirza reached the quarterfinals of the girls' event.

Paes-Rikl duo lose

Meanwhile Paes and Rikl lost to the American pair of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in the men's doubles semifinals. The Indo-Czech duo, which was the fifth seed, surrendered in straight sets losing 6-4, 6-3 to the third seeds.

Ferrero in final

On Wednesday, Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero, the third seed, entered the men's singles semifinals outlasting No. 19 Fernando Gonzalez 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

The Ferrero-Gonzalez match was exactly the same length as Costa-Robredo — 3:29 — and the ending was even more dramatic. The big-swinging Gonzalez saved five match points, four with winners, before Ferrero finally closed out the victory, then sank to his knees in relief.

Ferrero broke serve eight times in the roller-coaster match and benefited from Gonzalez's 15 double-faults.

Something about the French Open brings out the best in Albert Costa.

Here's a guy who has won one of his past 88 tournaments, a stretch dating to August 1999. That title came last year at Roland Garros.

Over the course of his career, the Spaniard has played in 29 Grand Slam events and been beyond the quarterfinals only twice — both in Paris, of course. And in 10 years on the pro Tour, he had never overcome a two-set deficit until this French Open, where he's done it three times in five matches en route to the semifinals.

In Friday's semifinals, the ninth-seeded Costa will face the man he beat in the 2002 championship match, Ferrero.

Heading into the previous round, it seemed the other semifinal would pit 1999 champion Andre Agassi against 1998 champion Carlos Moya. Instead, it'll be a study in contrasts between No. 7 Guillermo Coria of Argentina and unseeded Martin Verkerk of the Netherlands. The 1.75-meter (5-foot-9) Coria joked that the 1.9-meter (6-3) Verkerk ``is four times bigger.''

While Coria raced side to side to swat smooth groundstrokes that confounded Agassi, Verkerk relies more on a power game that produced 27 aces against Moya — a very high total on clay.

Neither had been this far at a Grand Slam tournament; Verkerk had never won a match at a major.

Coria is on an 11-match winning streak on clay, having won the Masters Series title in Hamburg before the French Open.

Both Costa and Ferrero are most comfortable on clay, too. All 12 of Costa's career titles have come on the slow surface, while Ferrero is 26-2 on it this season, with titles at Monte Carlo and Valencia.

By getting through his own five-set ordeal against Fernando Gonzalez in the round of eight Wednesday, Ferrero joined Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl and Jim Courier as the only men to reach the French Open semifinals four consecutive years. The others all won the French Open at least twice.

Costa ``has found his confidence again, playing here,'' Ferrero said. ``He is, of course, capable of winning.''

Still, Ferrero likes his chances of moving a step closer to his first major title. He figures he'll have the stronger legs in the rematch against Costa.

``Physically, I'm not sure he will be that fresh, because after playing so many sets, nobody can be fresh,'' Ferrero said.

After all, Costa is just the fourth player in the Open era to have won four five-set matches at a Grand Slam tournament. He's also just the second to erase a 2-0 deficit in sets three times at one major. None of those others won the title.

But none was a defending champion at the time, either.

Since arriving at Roland Garros, Costa has talked about how he feels extra poise and confidence, knowing full well what he accomplished a year ago.

That's a good thing, because he also arrived in the midst of a poor season, compiling just a 5-4 match record in tournament play on clay.

``When he came here, he wasn't worrying about winning the tournament. He just wanted to get past those previous tough weeks,'' said Costa's coach, Jose Perlas. ``We knew he could do well at this tournament, because it motivates him, and he has that extra margin with five-set matches. Plus, he gets days off.

``Now he's got his confidence back, and he's a complete player again. Well, not quite complete — he is a little tired.''

* The results: Women's singles (semifinals): 2-Kim Clijsters (Bel) bt Nadia Petrova (Rus) 7-5, 6-1; 4-Justin Henin-Hardenne bt 1-Serena Williams (U.S.) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

Wednesday's result: Men: singles: quarterfinals: 3-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) bt 19-Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

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