Henin d Sharapova -- WTA Tour Championship Final Facts
Posted on November 12, 2007Sony Ericsson Championships
Madrid, Spain
$3,000,000
Greenset (Hardcourt)/Indoors
November 6-11, 2007
Singles -- Final
(1) Justine Henin (BEL) d. (6) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 57 75 63
Final Facts
-- Henin's win sees her become the sixth player to successfully defend the Sony Ericsson Championships (after Evert, Navratilova, Seles, Graf, Clijsters).
-- Henin wins her Sony Ericsson WTA Tour-leading 10th singles title of the year (Chakvetadze and Jankovic have the next-highest tallies with four); she is now 10-1 in finals this year; the victory sees her become the first player in a decade to win 10 or more singles titles in a season (Hingis won 12 in 1997).
-- Henin has now won 25 matches in a row, winning Toronto (5-0), the US Open (7-0), Stuttgart (4-0), Zurich (4-0) and now Madrid (5-0); it is the longest streak on the Tour since 2000, when V.Williams won 35 in a row (between Wimbledon and Linz).
-- Henin also becomes the first player since Graf in 1989 to go undefeated in the second half of a season (post-Wimbledon); she also follows Graf as the first player since 1996 to win Roland Garros, the US Open and the Season-Ending Championships in the same year.
-- With her $1-million winner's cheque this week, Henin's season earnings rise to $5,367,086 seeing her become the first woman in professional tennis history to win more than $5 million in a single season.
-- At three hours and 24 minutes, Henin and Sharapova's epic encounter was the longest best-of-three-set season-ending Championships final, surpassing the three hours and six minutes Mauresmo and Pierce spent on court during the 2005 final (the 1990 final between Seles and Sabatini lasted three hours, 47 minutes, but it was five sets); this was also the longest match of Henin's career.
-- Sharapova is now 1-3 in Tour singles finals this year and 16-7 in her career; this was her second season-ending Championships final (she won the title on her event debut in 2004).
-- Henin improves to 6-2 lifetime against Sharapova; this clash was one year to the day since their last meeting (November 11, 2006) which also came a year at the Sony Ericsson Championships and was won by Henin 62 76(5).
-- WTA Tour
Madrid, Spain
$3,000,000
Greenset (Hardcourt)/Indoors
November 6-11, 2007
Singles -- Final
(1) Justine Henin (BEL) d. (6) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 57 75 63
Final Facts
-- Henin's win sees her become the sixth player to successfully defend the Sony Ericsson Championships (after Evert, Navratilova, Seles, Graf, Clijsters).
-- Henin wins her Sony Ericsson WTA Tour-leading 10th singles title of the year (Chakvetadze and Jankovic have the next-highest tallies with four); she is now 10-1 in finals this year; the victory sees her become the first player in a decade to win 10 or more singles titles in a season (Hingis won 12 in 1997).
-- Henin has now won 25 matches in a row, winning Toronto (5-0), the US Open (7-0), Stuttgart (4-0), Zurich (4-0) and now Madrid (5-0); it is the longest streak on the Tour since 2000, when V.Williams won 35 in a row (between Wimbledon and Linz).
-- Henin also becomes the first player since Graf in 1989 to go undefeated in the second half of a season (post-Wimbledon); she also follows Graf as the first player since 1996 to win Roland Garros, the US Open and the Season-Ending Championships in the same year.
-- With her $1-million winner's cheque this week, Henin's season earnings rise to $5,367,086 seeing her become the first woman in professional tennis history to win more than $5 million in a single season.
-- At three hours and 24 minutes, Henin and Sharapova's epic encounter was the longest best-of-three-set season-ending Championships final, surpassing the three hours and six minutes Mauresmo and Pierce spent on court during the 2005 final (the 1990 final between Seles and Sabatini lasted three hours, 47 minutes, but it was five sets); this was also the longest match of Henin's career.
-- Sharapova is now 1-3 in Tour singles finals this year and 16-7 in her career; this was her second season-ending Championships final (she won the title on her event debut in 2004).
-- Henin improves to 6-2 lifetime against Sharapova; this clash was one year to the day since their last meeting (November 11, 2006) which also came a year at the Sony Ericsson Championships and was won by Henin 62 76(5).
-- WTA Tour