MELBOURNE, Australia – SERENA WILLIAMS is back in the Australian Open final for the second straight year after beating Na Li 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1) on Thursday (Jan. 28), a day after the Chinese player knocked her sister Venus out of the competition.
The defending champion will face former world number one, Justine Henin, who advanced to the final in only her second tournament back after 18 months of retirement.
Williams, the current top-ranked player, has won the Australian Open four times since 2003, and was the favourite going into her semi-final match. She broke Na early in the opening set, but faltered and was broken while serving for the first set. She pulled away in the tiebreaker, ending the hour-long set with one of her 12 service aces.
Each player held onto serve in the second to arrive at six games apiece, but Williams again dominated in the tiebreaker, conceding only one point to Na. She finished with 33 winners to 24 unforced errors.
Meanwhile, Henin crushed Jie Zheng 6-1, 6-0 in 51 minutes, winning 54 of the 78 points contested in the match.
Williams and Henin have been the leading players of their generation, amassing 11 and seven Grand Slam titles, respectively. Williams leads the career head-to-head 7-6, but the two have never met in a Slam final.
Henin abruptly retired from tennis in May 2008 despite holding the top ranking at that time. After seeing her compatriot Kim Clijsters win the 2009 US Open in only her third tournament back, the diminutive Belgian decided to return to the tour.
Although her semi-final win was in a more dominating fashion than Williams’, Henin was not over-confident about her chances.
“I’m going to play the number one player in the world in a Grand Slam final,” she noted. “She’s a real fighter.”
The final will be played on Saturday evening (Jan. 30) in Rod Laver arena, but before that happens, Williams will contest the women’s doubles championship with Venus on Friday (Jan. 29).
The pair won the title last year and are hoping to achieve a sweep of Slam doubles titles in 2010 after failing to do so by one match last year.
In men’s action, Scot Andy Murray advanced to his first-ever Australian Open final with a four-set win over Croatian Marin Cilic. He will face the winner of tomorrow’s match between top-ranked Roger Federer and former Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
