Women’s Australian Open Finals: Justine Henin Faces Serena Williams in Historic Matchup

Justine Henin retired nearly two years ago while still ranked as the top women’s player in tennis, Serena Williams has been one of the most dominant players to ever take the court and on Saturday the two will meet for the first time in a Grand Slam singles final when they square off at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

For Henin, the Australian Open is just her second tournament back since returning from her retirement and the Belgian entered the Grand Slam event unseeded but knocked off #3 Elena Dementieva, #27 Alisa Kleybanova and #19 Nadia Petrova on her road to a third Finals appearance in Melbourne.

Henin has seven Grand Slam singles titles to her credit, including the 2004 Australian Open, only lacking a Wimbledon title for a career Grand Slam. A 2010 Australian Open title would perhaps be her most remarkable title after walking away from the sport shortly after her finals appearance at the same event in 2008. To get that title she’ll have to find a way past Serena Williams, the clear favorite for the title when the Australian Open began two weeks ago.

Serena was simply unstoppable in the early rounds of the Grand Slam event but has since run into some noticeable fatigue. Much of that is due to her participation in doubles with sister Venus Williams but that paid off earlier when the two captured the title in a straight sets victory over Cara Black and Liezel Huber. The only question is whether she’ll be able to recover in enough time to handle a confident Henin.

Serena has never used fatigue as an excuse and she has repeatedly said she has trained for the Australian Open with the belief that she would be facing the situation. With four Australian Open titles already in her possession, including last year, Serena could find career Grand Slam title number 12 if she has her serve in order. Serena has 53 aces thus far, more than twice Henin, and those easy points have saved her on a number of occasions. If she is able to control her service game and pick up points on a high percentage of her first serves she will likely find her fifth Australian Open title at the end of the match.

Remarkably, despite the two women having 18 career Grand Slam singles titles between them the Henin and Serena have never met in a finals, making Saturday’s showdown one of the most anticipated matches in recent memory.

The match is scheduled to begin no earlier than 7:30 pm Melbourne time Saturday, 3:30 am ET.

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