Shown here are Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin receiving their trophies following their great 3-set battle Saturday in the Finals of the 2010 Brisbane International. Clijsters won the match 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(6). Clijsters managed to save two match points before winning the two-hour 24-minute match. This was Clijsters’ 36th career title and second since coming out of retirement last season.
Prior to this Final, Clijsters and Henin had met twenty-two times, with Henin leading the head-to-head competition 12-10. With Clijsters already back playing during the 2009 season and with a championship win at her first Grand Slam since coming back, the 2009 U.S. Open, it would have been considered a major upset if Henin had won over No. 18 ranked Clijsters. It was a great run to the final for Henin in a memorable opening week of tennis in Australia, who is a seven-time major champion. Clijsters has two back-to-back U.S. Open titles to her name for her only major wins, although the back-to-back titles were four years apart, 2005, and 2009. Those were the last two times she played in the U.S. Open.
Unfortunately, the tournament left Henin with a leg injury which caused her to withdraw from Sydney’s Medibank International which she had entered to play this coming week. Speaking about her injury, Henin said, “It was a bit sore in the last few days and really got worse today in the third set. I hope it’s not that serious and that I’m going to be able to recover soon, but it would be just a great, great mistake to go and play in Sydney.” Henin is still hoping to recover in time for the 2010 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour season’s opening Grand Slam at the Australian Open set to begin January 18.
