London: Justine Henin won the latest battle in the most fierce rivalry in women's tennis with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 quarter-final victory over seventh seed Serena Williams at Wimbledon on Wednesday.
The Belgian world number one is chasing the one Grand Slam title she needs to complete her collection and looked in ominous form with a barrage of stunning backhand winners.
She now trails 6-5 in career meetings but appears to have the edge over the powerful American after also knocking her out in the quarter-final at the French Open.
There was nothing between the players for the first eight games but it was Serena who wavered at 4-4, dropping her serve when Henin played a delicate lob volley over her head. The Belgian then served out a near-perfect set to take command of the match.
Williams, sporting a bandage on the left calf she injured so dramatically against Daniela Hantuchova on Monday, was in no mood for a repetition of her Roland Garros defeat where she subsided in straight sets without her usual fight.
This time she hit back to win the second set after a flurry of service breaks. On set point at 5-3 she banged a serve beyond Henin down the middle and successfully won a Hawkeye challenge after it had wrongly been called out.
Henin, getting plenty of advice from her coach Carlos Rodriguez in the players' box, blazed to a 5-1 lead in the decider with Williams looking flat-footed.
Williams still managed to stretch out the contest, snatching back a couple of games.
Henin nervously put a backhand volley into the net on her first match point but when she got a second chance Williams obliged by scooping a backhand long.
Comments
0 comment