Henin Survives Bad Day for WTA Sydney Title

Posted on January 14, 2006

She couldn't conjure her best tennis, but a fighting spirit was enough in the Saturday final at the WTA stop in Sydney where former No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne capped her injury comeback with a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 win over Italy's Francesca Schiavone.

The diminutive Belgian's serve and timing were at times horrendously off in the first set, and in the second Henin-Hardenne trailed 1-4 before forcing a third, where she also trailed 3-5.

"When I was down 6-4, 4-1, for sure I wasn't in good position at that point," Henin-Hardenne said. "I couldn't find a solution. I was between the fact that I had to be aggressive but I had to be patient, and I couldn't find the good balance. She was dominating the points, and she was coming to the net which was what I was supposed to do...But even in the third set I was 5-3 down, so I just never thought it was over. That's probably what helped me to win the match."

Schiavone visibly tightened in the second and third sets, eventually contributing to her career record in finals which falls to 0-6.

"It was very tough and she played very well in the most important moment," Schiavone said. "I didn't push maybe sometimes when I had to push...it finished like this...I was very near, very close to winning."

Henin-Hardenne missed the end of 2005 with a leg injury, and is projected to rise from 8 to No. 6 on the WTA Rankings.

The No. 3-seeded team of Corina Morariu and Rennae Stubbs won the doubles title, defeating No. 4 seeds Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.