Justine Henin-Hardenne Takes On Amelie Mauresmo In The Final at Wimbledon
11th July 2006
Justine Henin-Hardenne and Amelie Mauresmo secured their respective places in the women’s singles final round on Saturday after dispatching their respective opponents, Henin-Hardenne, the third seed, against her compatriot, second seed Kim Clijsters, while French top seed Amelie Mauresmo, against Russian fourth seed Maria Sharapova. This will be the second time that Mauresmo and Henin-Hardenne will dispute a singles grandslam title, the first having been at the Australian Open where Amelie Mauresmo won.
Amelie Mauresmo overcame Maria Sharapova’s barrage of shots and her trademark shrieks to advance into the final round of Wimbledon. While both women started the first set locked in battle for dominance, Sharapova double faulted and lost her steam to hand the first set to Mauresmo, 6-4. In the second set, it was Sharapova’s turn to punish Mauresmo with non-returnable shots and excellent volley returns from Sharapova who never missed her shots, although her shrieks were a bit louder than in the first set. Add to that, Mauresmso’s serve declined rapidly, and she made double faults contributing to Sharapova’s triumph in the second set, 6-3, forcing a deciding third set. Maria fought hard to be in the final round, but she was hounded with a soaring number of unforced errors. Mauresmo, on the other hand, regained her strength. After a strong opposition from Sharapova, Mauresmo took the third set, 6-2. The game lasted for two hours and thirteen minutes.
Justine Henin-Hardenne, in the other semi-final match, edged compatriot Kim Clijsters in just ninety minutes, 6-4, 7-6(7-4). In the first set, Henin-Hardenne had some jitters as she hade more double faults. She then compensated for those by attacking the net boldly. It worked for her. Clijsters, on the other hand, was besieged with backhand errors, which made it easy for Henin-Hardenne to finish the first set at 6-4 in only thirty-eight minutes. Clijsters went on to take a 2-1 lead in the second set, hoping to push the game into a third deciding set. Henin-Hardenne upped her game then level score to 3-3. The fierce battle ensued with Clijsters leading the score at 6-5, and then Clijsters dropped her serve to force a tiebreaker. Henin-Hardenne grabbed the chance to seal the match in two sets by winning the tiebreaker, 7-4, and the match, 6-4, 7-6(7-4). Henin-Hardenne’s win over Clijsters had increased her head-to-head career wins to 12-10.
Henin-Hardenne leads in career head-to-head wins over Mauresmo at 5-4.
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