Henin, Mauresmo Advance to Aussie Open Final

Posted on January 26, 2006

Justine Henin-Hardenne did her part Thursday at the Australian Open, but an all-Belgian final was averted when Amelie Mauresmo advanced after Kim Clijsters sprained her right ankle and was forced to retire in their semifinal trailing 5-7, 6-2, 3-2.

"A very strange way, of course, to finish a match," said Mauresmo, whose only prior slam final appearance was at the 1999 Australian Open. "I just hope it's not too bad for her. I felt I was playing pretty well, and I felt that it was a very intense match, good quality, especially in the first set, I would say."

Clijsters injured her ankle after being broken in the third, with the sticky Rebound Ace surface claiming another victim, and after receiving treatment and some tape on the ankle retired after attempting to play further.

"I think it was going to be a close one," Clijsters said. "It's a shame it had to happen. I think Amelie played a really good second set. From the start, I felt that she was a little bit more aggressive on the second, third ball straight away...Yeah, very frustrating week."

In the other semifinal, Henin-Hardenne was a set down against Maria Sharapova before storming back for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win in approximately 2-1/2 hours.

The diminutive Belgian mixed things up after dropping the first set, at times making the lanky Russian look unbalanced and gawky with a combination of slice and short angles.

"I was dominating the first set and then on my serve I lost a little bit of aggression," Henin-Hardenne said. "I was too far from my baseline, and she could take the first set. Then I tried to change that in the second set, so it made the big difference that I was just staying on my baseline, instead of being three meters behind my baseline. It was tough, very intense, even in the third set."

Sharapova was happy to raise her level after an ugly quarterfinal win over Russian countrywoman Nadia Petrova.

"For me to be able to go out there and to play the quality of tennis that I did today, I think it was great," Sharapova said. "And I know that probably tomorrow I'm gonna be seeing headlines, 'Maria can't get past the semis, Maria can't finish it off in the third.' But take all that away and just look at the tennis that we both played today. I think that shows a lot."

Henin-Hardenne will take a 4-3 career advantage against Mauresmo into the final, winning in three sets in their most recent encounter last year at Toronto.

The Friday doubles final will see top seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur against the No. 12-seeded Chinese pair of Yan Zi and Zheng Jie, with the American-Aussie combo going for their second consecutive slam win after the 2005 US Open.