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| January 6, 2002 | Sunday | Shawwal 21, 1422 |
Williams returns from break with bang
GOLD COAST (Australia), Jan 5: World number three Venus Williams warmed up for the Australian Open with a 7-5 6-2 victory over Justine Henin in Saturday’s final of the Australian women’s hardcourt championships.
Williams, 21, the tournament’s top seed, took control in the second set, racing to a 5-1 lead before dropping serve then immediately breaking back as Henin double-faulted on match point.
Williams made a slow start against the Belgian defending champion and second seed, losing the first two games before recovering to reach two-all in the first set.
Henin, 19, the world number seven, saved four set points trailing 4-5 to hold serve for five-all.
Williams then broke Henin’s next service game, taking the set 7-5 as the Belgian hit a backhand long.
Henin, who lost to Williams in last year’s Wimbledon final, has embarked on a weight-training programme to try to match the powerful baseline game of players such as Williams.
Capriati returns from brink: American ace Jennifer Capriati came from a set down to win the Hong Kong Ladies Challenge Saturday, finally overcoming Russian Elena Dementieva after a titanic struggle.
The 20-year-old Muscovite dominated for much of the match, and at one stage threatened to inflict an embarassingly one-sided defeat on the reigning Australian and French Open champion, before Capriati dug deep to pull out a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
A revitalised Capriati, playing her first tournament after a winter break, had looked in vintage form all week as she confidently swept aside the challenges of rising Indonesian star Angelique Widjaja and South African veteran Amanda Coetzer en route to the final.
However, the powerful Dementieva, who reached the final after Mary Pierce retired with a hamstring injury on Friday, had been expected to provide the world No. 2 with her stiffest test yet — and so it proved.
After exchanging early breaks, Dementieva cut loose with another thumping forehand to break for a 3-1 lead. A fifth double fault from a strangely lethargic Capriati gave the Russian a 5-1 lead and she served out convincingly to take the set 6-1.
Capriati dug into her reserves to haul back the rampant Dementieva and bravely rescued the second set after falling a break behind. Although she could not stop the stream of winners flowing from Dementieva’s racket, Capriati bravely broke the Russian in the sixth game of a thrilling final set to stay level and again in the eighth game after the Russian had broken for a 4-3 lead with a blistering forehand.
The American took the lead for the first time in the match when she held serve for 5-4 and took the title for the second time in three years when the Russian double-faulted for the ninth time on match point.
Title for Smashnova
AUCKLAND: Anna Smashnova powered to a 6-2 6-2 win over Tatiana Panova in the final of the Auckland Classic on Saturday to record her third WTA tournament victory.
‘Scud’ FACES Henman
ADELAIDE: Top seed Tim Henman triumphed over Spain’s Alberto Martin 7-5 4-6 6-2 in the semifinals of the Australian men’s hardcourt championship on Saturday.
Briton Henman will meet Australia’s Mark Philippoussis in Sunday’s final after the home favourite beat Morocco’s fourth seed Hicham Arazi 6-4 6-1 in a powerful performance in the second semifinal.
Semifinals results: Mark Philippoussis (Australia) beat 4-Hicham Arazi (Morocco) 6-4 6-1; 1-Tim Henman (Britain) beat Alberto Martin (Spain) 7-5 4-6 6-2—Reuters/AFP
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