Justine Pulls Off Rare Paris-Eastbourne Sweep - 網球

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/newsroom/?contentid=546

June 24, 2006
Justine Pulls Off Rare Paris-Eastbourne Sweep

EASTBOURNE, UK - Moving from slow clay to slick grass has often been tough
for even the game's greatest players, but an extremely focused Justine
Henin-Hardenne made the transition successfully this year, capturing The
Hastings Direct International Championships title with a 46 61 76(5) victory
over Anastasia Myskina in the final.

The finalists thrilled the capacity Devonshire Park crowd for exactly two
hours on a sunny, Saturday afternoon. The early stages of the match were
fairly streaky, with Henin-Hardenne racing ahead 4-2 before Myskina reeled
off four consecutive games to tuck away the opening set. The Belgian bounced
back in the second set, stepping up her aggressive game and losing only 11
points to draw even, one set apiece.

Down an early break in the third, Henin-Hardenne began mixing in
serve-and-volley play to claw her way back, and eventually found herself at
triple match point in the 10th game with Myskina serving. But the Russian
held in a 10-minute game, and the two players were neck-and-neck throughout
the exciting climax until Henin-Hardenne broke away for a 6-4 lead in the
tie-break, winning 7-5.

"I was expecting a very tough match today from Anastasia," Henin-Hardenne
declared. "She played very well and I wasn't aggressive enough at 4-2 in the
first set. In the second set, I stepped it up because I knew if I didn't I
would lose and in the third set, it came down to who was mentally stronger."

"I'm very happy with the way I played today and the whole week," Myskina
said. "I finally believe in myself again and the hard work is paying off. I
really want to get back to where I was, as I was tired of losing. I want to
win again and that’s a good challenge for me."

Henin-Hardenne becomes only the third player in Sony Ericsson WTA Tour
history to win Roland Garros and Eastbourne in the same year, a feat that has
proven difficult to many of the game's greats given the drastic change in
surface. Only Chris Evert (1974, 1979) and Martina Navratilova (1982, 1984)
had done it.

"I'm very proud to join Evert and Navratilova as the only ones to win Roland
Garros and here. It's a special achievement and a great honor, but I think
what they did, no one will achieve again in their careers."

With her second career grass court title (having won 's-Hertogenbosch in
2001), the Belgian also becomes the fifth active player to have won at least
two titles on all four surfaces (after Lindsay Davenport, Kim Clijsters and
the Williams sisters), as well as the fastest woman ever to earn $2 million
in a season. All of this in her tournament debut, where she opened with easy
victories over Kveta Peschke and Elena Likhovtseva and capped it with wins
over Kim Clijsters and Myskina.

"I'm very happy with my week here. The courts were excellent; a little windy
at the start, but great preparation for Wimbledon. I'll be back next year for
sure."

Despite heading to the All-England Club with the most presitgious tune-up
event's title in hand, the five-time Grand Slam winner is still taking it
match by match.

"I'm not looking too far ahead. Everybody knows how difficult first rounds
are for me; I hope the preparation will help me when I play my first round
Monday."

Myskina's week was also a good sign for Wimbledon. The Russian cruised
through her first three rounds easily, then had her first win over a Top 10
player this year in the semis, over Svetlana Kuznetsova. She heads into
Wimbledon with a 32-14 career grass court record (Tour main draws only), and
looks to repeat her good form from last year at the All-England Club, which
took her to the quarterfinals.

In the doubles final, Kuznetsova and Amelie Mauresmo ousted No.4 seeds Liezel
Huber and Martina Navratilova, 62 64, for their first career title as a team.
It was the Russian's 13th career Tour doubles title and Mauresmo's second.
Huber and Navratilova had pulled off arguably one of the biggest upsets of
the entire tournament, singles and doubles included, with a straight set
semifinal victory over top seeds and reigning US Open and Roland Garros
champions Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur, 76(3) 76(3).

Other players making waves in Eastbourne this past week included Nathalie
Dechy, who stunned top-seeded Mauresmo in her opener; Anna-Lena Groenefeld,
who held three match points versus Kuznetsova in the quarters before falling;
Francesca Schiavone, who reached a grass court quarterfinal for the second
straight week, having never gone that far in 10 prior grass court outings;
and finally Clijsters, seeded No.2 and the defending champion, who made the
semis before running into Henin-Hardenne.

With the participation of Mauresmo, Clijsters and Henin-Hardenne, this was
also the first women's-only tournament in the last four-and-a-half years to
feature the Top 3 players in the world; it was also just the ninth time since
1990.

--
因為冠軍就貼比較多新聞 哈 我是都有看完啦
給懶得看的人...重點是juju是WTA史上第三個同年拿下法網+伊斯特本
連續打兩個極端場地都拿冠軍的人....cool!



--