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Justine Henin’s impressive return to top-level tennis is almost complete after she booked a date with old foe Serena Williams in Saturday’s Australian Open 2010 final.
The Belgian, playing in her first Grand Slam since the same tournament in 2008, disposed of her Chinese opponent Zheng Jie 6-1 6-0 in just 51 minutes at Rod Laver Arena on Thursday, a match that was her easiest of the tournament to date.
The win gives Henin entry to her 12th Grand Slam final, and should she beat Williams, it would be her eighth Grand Slam title.
Henin said it was nice to have an “easy” match ahead of the final.
“It was perfect - I just felt really good all day. Everything went pretty well. It was good to have a pretty easy match – I can’t wait for the final now,” the 27-year-old said.
Zheng has managed one previous Grand Slam semi-final appearance (at Wimbledon 2008), and she started the match in a positive fashion, holding serve as Henin produced a couple of errors from the baseline.
However, from the second game of the match, it was Henin who dominated as the former world No. 1 launched an assault on the Chinese player’s serve and broke her at every opportunity. The Belgian won 12 games in a row to close out the match within the hour.
The first set was a lot tighter than the second, as Zheng fought hard to hold serve on a couple of occasions where she took the game to deuce. But it was Henin who was able to produce the winners at key moments, and she raced away with the first set 6-1 in just 27 minutes.
The second set was almost a repeat of the first, as Henin’s aggressive approach towards the Zheng serve reaped rewards, and the Chinese player failed to hold.
In fairness to Zheng, she didn’t gift the match to the Belgian though errors – she only made one more unforced error than Henin in the whole match. Rather, Zheng simply never had a chance to get into a rhythm, only managing three winners to Henin’s 23.
Henin also improved her service game from her quarter-final win on Tuesday, lifting her first serve percentage to above 50 per cent and hitting winners off both forehand and backhand almost at will. She also dominated with her vollies, winning 77 per cent of points when she came to the net.
The victory sets up a much-anticipated final between the former world No.1 and Williams, the current top-ranked player. The American won through to Saturday’s final with a 7-6(4) 7-6(1) triumph over China’s Li Na earlier on Thursday.
Fast facts
- At 51 minutes, the match was shorter than either of the two sets in the first women’s semi-final between Serena Williams and Li Na.
- Henin hit 23 winners to Zheng’s three.
- Zheng won just eight points in the second set.
- Henin converted on six of her 11 break point chances, while Zheng was unsuccessful on all three of her break point chances.
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