Saturday we will watch a match of two superb players, seeds No. 1 and No. 2. Justine Henin – top-ranked player in the world and the defending champion at the Eastbourne International grasscourt tournament; Amelie Mauresmo — ranked fourth in the world and the 2006 Wimbledon champion.

Justine Henin of Belgium had a 59-minute-long semifinal match against No. 8 seed Marion Bartoli, seeing off her opponent 6-1 6-3 to reach the final.

If the Belgian wins the 2007 Eastbourne International she will be the first woman since Chanda Rubin in 2002 and 2003 to lift this trophy in successive years. Read more »

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The first known semifinalist of the Eastbourne International grass-court tournament was the defending champion Justine Henin, who crushed fifth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova 6-2 6-2.

I had expected much more from this match. Vaidisova serves well, so I thought the match would be much more undecided, but her serve had let her down, and she had no other weapons to use against the Belgian top seed. Within the first 20 minutes Vaidisova was 5-0 down, having held only one game point.

In the second quarterfinal match eight-seeded Marion Bartoli defeated fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva 6-1 6-0. This is Bartoli’s second consecutive win over the Russian, the previous one having been in this month’s Roland Garros. Furthermore, the Frenchwoman is now even with Dementieva on grass, 1-1.

FIRST SEMIFINAL: Henin vs. Bartoli >> So far, they’ve played only once, and that was four years ago. Henin defeated Bartoli on the hard-courts of Toronto. But in this case, the stats are not necessary; it’s clear who the favorite in this match is. Read more »

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No more late-night chocolate boxes for Henin, at least if she is to listen to her nutritionist’s advice.

"I've had to stop eating a lot of things," world No. 1 said on her arrival in Eastbourne for this week's International Women's Open. "I can't eat sugar any more before going to bed. I miss Belgian chocolate a lot." (Do you remember that severe stomach problems even forced Henin to retire in the middle of the Australian Open final against Amelie Mauresmo?)

Despite winning her fourth Roland Garros title only 10 days ago, Henin feels ready for Wimbledon. "I felt very good in Paris," she said. "I won all my matches in two sets. I think I feel fresher than I was before Wimbledon last year."

Maybe she feels so fresh because she has a new physical coach and a different training program. (via The Independent)

BTW, I’ve chosen this photo because Justine really looks like: “Give me some chocolate, I was a good girl.”

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Justine Henin totally dominated in the women’s final of Roland Garros on Saturday. She crushed seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic 6-1 6-2, the first Serbian player to reach the final of a grand slam. Ivanovic was only the shadow of the exciting newcomer who had thrilled the Paris crowd earlier in the tournament; she challenged the top seed in the first couple of games but then collapsed.

Taking the trophy once again, the 25-year-old Henin became the first woman to win three successive French Open titles since Monica Seles in 1992. In addition, the Belgian is the first woman since tennis turned professional in 1968 to win back-to-back Roland Garros crowns without dropping a set; the last time she dropped a set in Paris was in the fourth round in 2005. She also became fifth woman since 1925 to win the French title four or more times, joining Chris Evert (7), Steffi Graf (6), Margaret Court (5) and Helen Wills Moody (4).

As for Ana Ivanovic, she is still young, and there is no doubt that great results are ahead of her. In the final against superb Henin, her nerves had let her down, but she promised she would remember the lesson. Earlier in the tournament Ana easily beat second-seeded Maria Sharapova, but she wasn’t strong enough for the queen of the French Open.

"In the beginning I felt okay but then all of a sudden I started feeling nervous," said the 19-year-old Ivanovic.

"I did everything I could. I felt comfortable being in the final but once on the court, I started to think about the situation and there were just too many emotions."

"This was a great experience," Ivanovic said. "I can learn from Justine. I'm sure she was nervous too but she dealt with it better because she's such a great champion.

"If I could have controlled my emotions better, it would have been a different match."

Ivanovic, who said here how she had started hitting balls at the bottom of an empty swimming pool and later struggled to get visas to leave her war-torn country to play abroad, then reminded everybody she had shone in Paris before the final.

"It's been an amazing tournament for me," she said. "I beat great players and I'm proud of what I have achieved. I'm excited about the tournaments I'm going to play and the next chances I'm going to get."

Convinced that she will learn to handle her emotions in important matches, Ivanovic doesn’t lack confidence and determination.

"My ambition is to win grand slams and reach number one," she said. "In order to do that I have to learn how to deal with pressure. I feel I'm on the right way." (source: Reuters, photo: BBC)

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Ana Ivanovic of Serbia made it to the final of a grand slam tournament for the first time with a 6-2 6-1 demolition of world number two Maria Sharapova at the French Open on Thursday.

The 19-year-old Ivanovic, seeded seventh, performed close to perfection beating second-seeded Sharapova in just 65 minutes. At the end of the match, she had three match points, but sealed the victory on the first one with an ace.

"I knew I had to be aggressive from the beginning and that's what I tried to do," said Ivanovic. "I knew she was not a great mover on clay and I tried to play deep balls to put her under pressure."

Russia’s Sharapova, who said last week that she felt like a "cow on ice" on clay, made too many unforced errors and looked helpless at times.

In the second semifinal of the day, the defending champion Justine Henin was yet again too good for Jelena Jankovic. Belgian Henin overcame Jankovic 6-2 6-2, and is seeking to become the first woman to win three consecutive French Open titles since Monica Seles in 1990-92.

"I expected a tough battle against Jankovic," said Henin.

"All our previous games have been that way so I tried to take command right from the start.

"I think she took a heavy blow to her morale by losing her serve so easily at the end of the first set and that allowed me to open strongly in the second set.

"It will be a very hard match against Ivanovic."

The 2007 Roland Garros finalists met only once, two years ago – they played on clay, in Warsaw, and Justine won 6-4, 7-5.

(sources: Reuters, BBC Sport)

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