1/12/2010

Player of the week: Justine Henin


Despite not winning the title, former WTA #1 Justine Henin got most of the attention this week on her comeback to the Tour.

She started her comeback upsetting 2nd seed Nadia Petrova in straight sets in the 1st round. After overcoming Sesil Karatantcheva in the 2nd round, she found much more opposition on 7th seed Melinda Czink in the quarters and needed a third set tiebreak to defeat her. The semifinals looked a tougher test as Henin was facing 3rd seed and former WTA #1 Ana Ivanovic, and this time Henin went through with ease by 6/4 6/3 to set-up a highly expected final against fellow Belgian and former #1 Kim Clijsters, who successfully came back to the Tour last year to win the US Open. After losing the first set, Henin came back to win the 2nd set and the match was decided in a tight 3rd set tiebreak, which was won by Clijsters.

The high quality of the final is a breath of fresh air for the Tour, which lacked of real competetivity between its leaders. And, although she may not be at her best yet, Henin has shown that she's ready to compete again for the big titles with the top players.

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