Henin-Hardenne Clinches Year-End No. 1 Ranking, Reaches Semifinals at WTA Championships; Masters Cup Doubles Begin Today



Posted on November 9, 2003

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEWJustine Henin clinches the year-end No. 1 Ranking (WTA)
Lacking the drama of their earlier US Open encounter, Justine Henin-Hardenne unmercifully pounded Jennifer Capriati 6-2, 6-1 Friday night at the WTA Championships, simultaneously earning a berth in the semifinals and gaining enough points to secure the year-end No. 1 ranking over Belgian countrywoman Kim Clijsters. Henin-Hardenne combined power and a delicate touch with the drop shot to keep the chunky American off-balance and out-of-sorts. "It's just a great feeling," Henin-Hardenne said. "I'm very happy because the season has been great. I did everything almost perfect...I knew before the match that if I won I was going to be qualified for the semis and No. 1 in the world. It gave me so much determination, I was coming on the court so focused...I'm still not 100 percent (flu), but when you're playing more relaxed it helps you." Capriati took a medical time-out between sets to have a trainer attend to a strained hip flexor muscle. Russian Anastasia Myskina also had a key win to keep her semifinal hopes alive, rallying from two breaks down to beat Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-3, eliminating Japan's No. 1 player from semifinal contention. The emotional Russian was coming off a 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 loss to Henin-Hardenne the previous night where she led in each set, including 5-0 in the first. "I didn't sleep well. I closed my eyes and I was still playing tennis," Myskina said. "I was so mad and upset, I was crying for a couple of hours. I was thinking how stupid I can be to lose a set after being up 5-0." Defending champion Kim Clijsters toughed out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Amelie Mauresmo, finishing her round robin with a perfect 3-0 record. Mauresmo now has a 1-2 record, but can still qualify for the semis if Rubin loses to Dementieva tonight.

Red Group:
(1)Kim Clijsters 3-0 win-loss (6-1 sets) *qualified for semis
(10)Chanda Rubin 1-1 (2-3)
(6)Amelie Mauresmo 1-2 (4-4)
----------------------------
(9)Elena Dementieva 0-2 (0-4) *eliminated from semis

Black Group:
(2)Justine Henin-Hardenne 2-0 win-loss (4-1 sets) *qualified for semis
(8)Anastasia Myskina 1-1 (3-2)
(5)Jennifer Capriati 1-1 (2-2)
----------------------------
(11)Ai Sugiyama 0-2 (0-4) *eliminated from semis

On court Saturday night at the WTA Championships are (10)Rubin vs. (9)Dementieva (Rubin will qualify for the semis with a win), (5)Capriati vs. (8)Myskina (winner into the semifinals), and (2)Henin-Hardenne vs. (11)Sugiyama.

The unfortunately-named Lubomira Kurhajcova's late-season surge continued at the WTA stop in Pattaya City Friday, where the unseeded Slovak advanced to the quarterfinals by upsetting No. 2 seed Saori Obata. Others into the quarters were (1)Tanasugarn (d. Rodionova), (4)Barna (d. (7)Kostanic in three), and another unseeded Slovak in Henrieta Nagyova (d. Tatarkova in three). Saturday's semis pit Tanasugarn against Nagyova, and Barna versus Lurhajcova. The doubles final will be (1)Prakusya/Widjaja of Indonesia against (3)Li/Sun of China. Hey WTA, why are you holding a tour event during the same week as your year-end championships? You don't see the ATP holding the Umag event during the Masters Cup. Have some focus, get with the program.

WTA YEAR-END NO. 1 PLAYERS
2003 - Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium)
2002 - Serena Williams (U.S.)
2001 - Lindsay Davenport (U.S.)
1999-00 - Martina Hingis (Switzerland)
1998 - Davenport
1997 - Hingis
1993-96 - Steffi Graf (Germany)
1991-92 - Monica Seles (Yugoslavia)
1987-90 - Graf
1982-86 - Martina Navratilova (U.S.)
1980-81 - Chris Evert (U.S.)
1978-79 - Navratilova (Czechoslovakia)
1975-77 - Evert
* Monica Seles "tied" Graf for the year-end No. 1 in 1995

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
The Masters Cup doubles starts today in Houston, here is a look at the two round robin groups and their head-to-heads against other teams:

Red Group: (1)Bryan/Bryan, (3)Bjorkman/Woodbridge, (6)Llodra/Santoro, (7)Damm/Suk
The Bryan brothers and Wimbledon/US Open champions Bjorkman/Woodbridge are the clear favorites to come out of this group. The Aussie Open champions Llodra/Santoro have shown an ill habit of dropping big matches, while Damm/Suk are capable of the big upset but generally regarded as over the hill (with a 2-8 head-to-head record against the rest of the group). The key match-up will be the brothers vs. B/W, with the Americans trailing 1-4 in their career meetings. "The time will come when I'm starting to do mediocre in semifinals, but while I'm still winning I would be crazy to retire," Woodbridge said after his US Open win. "Jonas and I have played well from the time we got together."

Red Group Head-to-Heads: Bryan/Bryan 5-6, Bjorkman/Woodbridge 8-2, Llodra/Santoro 5-4, Damm-Suk 2-8

Blue Group: (2)Bhupathi/Mirnyi, (4)Knowles/Nestor, (5)Arthurs/Hanley, (8)Etlis/Rodriguez
The Indian/Belarusian combo of Bhupathi/"Beast" and last year's No. 1 team Knowles/Nestor are the by-a-nose favorites here, though the Aussies Arthurs/Hanley have wins over both teams. Write off Etlis/Rodriguez (1-12 head-to-head versus the field), who didn't win a title this year and only snuck into the draw when Paes/Rikl pulled.

Blue Group Head-to-Heads: Bhupathi/Mirnyi 4-6, Knowles/Nestor 11-4, Arthurs/Hanley 5-5, Etlis/Rodriguez 1-6

Saturday's schedule, beginning at 1:00 PM: Bjorkman/Woodbridge vs. Llodra/Santoro (B/W lead career series 2-1), Bryan/Bryan vs. Damm/Suk (brothers lead 3-1), Bhupathi/Mirnyi vs. Etlis/Rodriguez (B/M lead 1-0).

ATP MASTERS CUP DOUBLES -- ALL-TIME WIN LEADERS
The Woodies hold the all-time record for the most wins at the year-end doubles championship, ahead of Dutch nemeses Eltingh/Haarhuis. Seven-time title winners Fleming-J.McEnroe only have 14 wins due to the shortened format in the 1970s-80s. Swede Anders Jarryd is the only player to post in the Top 10 with two different partners (results through 2002 Masters Cup, this year's competitors in bold):

1. Woodbridge-Woodforde (AUS) 25-13
2. Eltingh/Haarhuis (NED) 20-6
3. Fitzgerald-Jarryd (AUS/SWE) 15-4
4. Fleming-J.McEnroe (USA) 14-0
5. Casal-E.Sanchez (ESP) 13-16
6. Flach-Seguso (USA) 10-7
7. Edberg-Jarryd (SWE) 9-3
8. Lareau/O'Brien (USA) 9-5
9. Bhupathi-Paes (IND) 9-8
10T.Connell-Galbraith (CAN/USA) 6-6
10T.Leach-Pugh (USA) 6-6

NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
France named their "dream team" of Mary Pierce and Amelie Mauresmo to compete against Russia in the Fed Cup semifinals later this month. The injury-plagued Pierce has not played Fed Cup for France since 1997, and has never competed beside Mauresmo...The "Superset Tennis" exhibition, featuring Agassi, Philippoussis, and Blake among others, will be televised by CBS in the U.S. on Thanksgiving...If you went by winning percentage instead of ranking points for the Top 8 at the Masters Cup, Lleyton Hewitt would have qualified and David Nalbandian would have not -- yes we were a bit bored Friday, playing with the numbers...Also, for those that think Andy Roddick has an easy road to No. 1, think again. The American will have to beat either Federer, Ferrero, Agassi or Nalbandian in a single elimination semifinal...Four No. 1 players had negative win-loss records at the year-end championships: Jimmy Connors (18-20), Yevgeny Kafelnikov (11-14), Mats Wilander (9-10), and Jim Courier (7-9)...Argentinean Masters Cup doubles qualifiers Etlis/Rodriguez are 1-12 head-to-head against the rest of the field; other teams with losing records against the field are Damm/Suk (7-12) and Llodra/Santoro (7-10)...Carlos Moya has advanced out of round robin play in all three of his Masters Cup appearances (1997-98, 2002)...Juan Carlos Ferrero lost his first round robin match in both his previous Masters Cup appearances (2001-02), but both times advanced out of round robin play...Roger Federer, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Carlos Moya have never lost in the round robin at the Masters Cup in six appearances between them, while Andre Agassi lost in the round robin in 1988 (l. to Hlasek, Lendl), 1989 (l. to Becker, Edberg, Gilbert), 1996 (l. to Sampras then pulled), 1998 (l. to Corretja then pulled), 2001 (l. to Hewitt, Grosjean), and 2002 (l. to Novak, Ferrero, then pulled)...Aussie serve-and-volleyer Scott Draper, who plays off a golf handicap of one, shot a level-par 72 on Friday at the Queensland PGA tournament to follow his opening round 73 but missed the cut...In other golf news (sorry), Lleyton Hewitt will caddie for Greg Norman at December's Australian PGA Championship, a plan they hatched together during a tennis pro-am event...Daniela "Feed Me" Hantuchova has split with her British coach of more than two years who guided her into the Top 10, Nigel Sears. "It's not necessarily a permanent split," said a WTA spokesman...Mary Joe Fernandez says Monica Seles is gearing up for 2004: "Monica is doing great, her foot is healing, she's hoping to be back next year and she's got herself in very good shape."...Nice choke by Ai Sugiyama last night against Anastasia Myskina, up two breaks and losing the set...Justine Henin-Hardenne's win last night at the WTA Championships ensured she will be only the eighth woman to finish with the year-end No. 1 ranking after Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, and Serena Williams...Kim Clijsters will face either Capriati or Myskina in the WTA Championships semifinals, while Justine Henin-Hardenne will face either Mauresmo or Rubin...Andy Roddick is scheduled to host Saturday Night Live tonight.