Justine wins tour final - 網球

Justine wins tour final
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Justin Henin-Hardenne has confirmed her new status as world number one by
winning her first WTA Championships final.

Her dominant two set victory over fierce rival Amelie Mauresmo in Madrid caps
off a fantastic year for the Belgian who has only lost eight matches
throughout the season.

But the 6-4 6-3 scoreline underplays Mauresmo's role in what was a thrilling
women's final which exhibited some high-quality tennis.

The match was very evenly matched as can only be expected when two
statistically matched players face each other.

As the game began Henin-Hardenne was the first to get the early advantage,
always challenging on Mauresmo's service games and being the first to achieve
a break point.

But in a match where every challenge was matched by the other early on,
Mauresmo showed that anything the Belgian could do too, she could match.

Both players made errors, but as the game wore on it was Mauresmo who seemed
to have the game slipping away from her.

Both women fought very hard for the one million dollar pay cheque which was
waiting for the victor, but Henin-Hardenne slowly began to press out an
advantage and while the match started tightly - it ended pretty dominantly in
Henin-Hardenne's favour.

As the final game drew to a close with the Belgian clutching three
championship points whilst serving, victory became inevitable as Mauresmo
continued to struggle.

The French former number one admitted, "She played better than me.

"I was not serving as well as I wanted to. I've given up a lot of energy over
the last few days but that's the way it is. I was a little tired after
yesterday but we're all the same so that's no excuse.

"I am a little disappointed but you can't always get the titles. I'm now
looking forward to 2007"

An elated Henin-Hardenne said, "There's a lot of emotion as its been hard in
the last couple of weeks."

"I wanted this victory so much that I can't describe my feelings right now."

Having lost to Mauresmo only two days ago, the eventual winner couldn't be
predicted before the match, and Henin-Hardenne said that result helped her
win the final.

"The key after the loss of Friday was to see what went wrong and recognise
that I could have won."

The ecstatic winner only returned at the start of week after a two-month
lay-off following a calf injury sustained in the Fed Cup final in September.

"It couldn't have gone better; especially as it was doubtful as to whether I
would even take part. It's been an unbelievable year. I'm so happy with the
way the season went and now I can enjoy my vacation."

The victory gave the three-times Roland Garros champion some revenge for her
defeats to the Frenchwoman in the finals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon
this year.

Capping off Henin-Hardenne's season will be the confirmation tomorrow of the
24-year olds status once again as the World Number One, snatching yet another
accolade from Mauresmo.

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