Mauresmo Breaks Slam Duck With Aussie Open Title

Posted on January 28, 2006

Amelie Mauresmo employed a brilliant strategy and an ultra-consistent baseline game in dismantling Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-1, 2-0, ret., in Saturday's Australian Open final, with the Belgian retiring mid-match after suffering a stomach ailment.

Mauresmo ended a long wait with her first Grand Slam title, executing a game plan of bouncing heavy topspin groundstrokes up around the diminutive Belgian's shoulders, with Henin-Hardenne pressing too much to dictate play.

"It's too bad, I'm sorry I can't go on," Henin-Hardenne said, looking at her coach in the crowd and walking toward the chair umpire after wincing while driving her last backhand into the net at 0-2 down.

Henin-Hardenne was left on the sidelines crying into a towel after the retirement, with Mauresmo weeping tears of joy.

The title was in the end bittersweet in terms of the record books, with Mauresmo also receiving an injury default in the semifinals against an opponent who has held a career edge over her in Kim Clijsters, who tore tendons in her ankle.

The Frenchwoman was again expected to star as Willy Wonka in her long-running Slam production of Charlie and the Choke-a-Lot Factory, but instead displayed a calm demeanor and steely determination in failing to produce unforced errors against the Belgian.

For Mauresmo it was seven years between slam finals, making her last appearance in a slam championship match at the Australian Open in 1999.

"I've been waiting so long for this and really worked hard for this," Mauresmo said. "It's a really great achievement, so I think I deserve this."

Henin-Hardenne will likely now be dogged in 2006 for her decision to hang it up in a Slam final without suffering a major injury.

"It's been a few days I wasn't feeling well," Henin-Hardenne said. "My stomach was very upset. And then last night, I didn't sleep a lot because it got worst and worst. Two weeks now I had to take anti-inflammatories for my shoulder, and that killed me a little bit. Pretty sensitive. But I had to for my shoulder. Now I got on my stomach, and then I had no legs today. I couldn't move. When the stomach is so upset and so inflamed, you know, you just don't have any energy. And I felt it when I woke up, but I tried. I knew at the beginning of the match I couldn't win it. I just really tried to stay in the match, but there was no chance for me. If I would have keep playing and continue, maybe I would injure something else, so that was the best decision, even if it was very, very hard for me."

The Frenchwoman refused to comment on Henin-Hardenne failing to fight through to the end of the match.

"I don't know what happened exactly, but I was ready to die on the court today," Mauresmo said. "I probably would have reacted differently if the match went to the end but the joy is still there. No-one can take that away from me. I've also had some bad moments myself. It hasn't been easy."