Justine Henin: Winner of Unicef Open 2010, s’Hertogenbosch
One of the greatest players of all time has joined the Road To Bali as Justine Henin swept to the UNICEF Open title in s’Hertogenbosch with a hard-fought 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Germany’s Andrea Petkovic.
It was the fourth grass court title for the Belgian, who made no secret of the fact that the major motivating factor in coming out of retirement is to win the next grass court tournament on the calendar - Wimbledon. That would allow her to join Venus Williams with five grass court titles, the most among active players. By coincidence, her win in s’Hertogenbosch was her 43rd career title, equaling Venus for the most titles among active players.
It was a really tough match for Henin against the 2009 Bad Gastein champion, and Henin admitted that her mind had already wandered to the All England Club and how she would fare during the tournament there.
"When I was down a break in the second, I don't think many people would have thought I could come back," said Henin. "It's the kind of match you really like to win. Today was harder than my other matches, because I really wanted to win, my mind was already in Wimbledon, and Andrea played a great match. She has a good game for grass - she hits the ball really flat and hard." Na Li: winner of AEGON Classic Birmingham, Great Britain
Na Li became the first Asian player to win an International Series event this year when she defeated Maria Sharapova 7-5 6-1 in the final of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham. Her victory was a repeat of her semi-final win against Sharapova a year ago, and it denied her Russian opponent a third International Series title this season.
The Chinese number one’s victory, her third career title after winning Guangzhou in 2004 and Gold Coast in 2008, returned her to the world’s top 10. Li was the first Chinese player ever to break the top 10 earlier this year, after a scintillating run to the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Li, who was a semi-finalist in Bali in 2005, spent seven straight weeks in that position before a back injury led to her dipping out of the elite again. She fell as low as 16, but strong clay court results and now a title in Birmingham have pushed her back into the top 10.
"Last year I beat Maria and then was so excited I forgot I had another match," said Li, who last year lost the final to Magdalena Rybarikova. "I'm excited again. If I had another match this time, I think I would probably lose that too." |