Henin-Hardenne Advances to Open Final
By JOHN PYE
MELBOURNE, Australia – Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 Thursday to advance to the Australian Open final and extend her winning streak to 13 matches at Melbourne Park.
Henin-Hardenne, the reigning French Open champion, missed this tournament last year because of a stress fracture in her right leg after beating Kim Clijsters in the 2004 Australian Open final.
U.S. Open champion Clijsters, who took over as No. 1 in women’s tennis when she beat Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals, faces WTA Championship winner Amelie Mauresmo in Thursday’s later semifinal.
If Clijsters advances over third-seeded Mauresmo, it will set up the 45th Grand Slam singles final between women from the same nation.
Sharapova dictated play in the opening set, but became increasingly frustrated as Henin-Hardenne chased every ball with excellent baseline coverage.
After breaking Sharapova’s serve four times in the second set, Henin-Hardenne held her serve in a pivotal fifth game in the third, then broke Sharapova in the next.
Henin-Hardenne had a chance to serve for the match at 5-3 but opened with a double-fault and the nerves showed as she dropped serve for the only time in the set.
But Sharapova was unable to serve to stay in the match, with Henin-Hardenne sealing the semifinal with one of her trademark backhand winners down the line.
Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, reached the semis at the three of the four Grand Slams last season and lost to the eventual champion at all four.
She lost Serena Williams here in the semis and to Henin-Hardenne in the French Open quarterfinals.
Henin-Hardenne returned from two months out with a right hamstring problem to win the Sydney International the week before the Open.
She is now 10-0 this season.
It’s the first time since the inception of computer rankings in 1975 that four former No. 1-ranked women have made the semifinals of one Grand Slam event.
Clijsters, who will replace Lindsay Davenport atop the women’s rankings when they’re released next week, ended Martina Hingis’ Grand Slam comeback 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
"After the year I had last year, this is the cherry on the cake," Clijsters said of the No. 1 rankings. She spent the start of last season recovering from a wrist operation.
Hingis, who won three Australian titles and spent 209 weeks ranked No. 1 before retiring in 2002, said she could be proud of her comeback major.
"You just can’t think you’re going to go out there and win everything," Hingis said. "I lost only 6-4 in the third against the No. 1 player, so I don’t think it’s that bad. You think I’m going to give up right now?"
While Hingis’ remarkable return to tennis ended Wednesday, her Swiss compatriot Roger Federer stayed on course for his seventh Grand Slam title with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5) win over No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko.
Federer next plays Nicolas Kiefer, who needed 4 hours, 48 minutes – including a 96-minute final set – to edge No. 25 Sebastien Grosjean 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, 6-7 (1), 8-6.
The volatile Kiefer has so far been fined $6,000 for code violations, but escaped sanction for tossing his racket over the net as Grosjean made a forehand error at a crucial time in the fifth set.
Grosjean appealed unsuccessfully for a hindrance ruling, but the umpire ruled that the ball was no longer in play when the racket crossed the net.
Kiefer later apologized and acknowledged "it wasn’t nice."