Today, our number one backhand queen, Justine Henin, was back on court. This time it was against American Vania King. Many might say that this is a deja vu match up because they played against each other last year but Justine had lost. This time, outcome is different. Even though being down 1-3 in the first set, Justine found her serve and came back to tie things at 4-4. Vania played really calm tennis, until she started to make some unforced errors and Justine capitalized on the oppurtunity and broke Vania’s service game to win the first set 6-4.
She played with a more intense tennis level in the second set, with aggressiveness, precision and accuracy. Vania started out the second game on her serve and went up early 1-0, but from then on, Justine’s game was proven too much to handle for her and that was the only game that Vania had won. Justine was able to win 6 straight games, provide two aces, and had a lower first serve fault.
The final score is 6-4 6-1 for Justine in 1 hour and 27 minutes.
“I wasn’t at my best, far from that. It was tough, pretty windy out there. I needed a little bit of time to get used to the conditions. Second set was much better, but I need to improve. I need some matches. I’ve never played very well here in the past, but the past is the past. Really no explanation about that. I hope I can have a better tournament this year. I hope that one day I will play well here in Miami.” [quoted by Justine after the match]
Though it probably wasn’t her best performance, we have to give Justine credit for stepping up her game while battling a cold during this match. Don’t worry, she is getting over the cold now, and should be ready by the next match. Of course, there is also the weather in Miami where you never know when it will rain or shine there, but I think Justine will be able to adjust to the high winds soon.
I really like Justine’s attitude about hoping to play well here and willing to come back to this tournament even when it isn’t one of her favourite events. Of course, this time of the year has been a lot of history and we can’t forget it but there is a saying that even my coach tells me ” Forget about everything else, Just focus on the fuzzy green ball.” So knowing that, I think Justine will improve over time and will be able to win this title. She has already won 2 out of the 3 tournaments she played, so I think she has the ability to win this one as well, no matter how fierce the competition is.
Justine’s next match is going to be against Virginie Razzano.
Virginie is currently ranked 71 in the world and has had to beat Flavia Pennetta and Martina Muller to face Justine. The two will be playing each other on March 25th with the time undecided. This is going to be the fifth time that they will be playing each other with the head-to -head in favour of Justine leading 3-1.
