World number one Justine Henin continues her domination on the WTA Tour winning the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships for the second time and in that way collecting her tenth title of season.

Superior Justine Henin defeated determined Maria Sharapova 5-7 7-5 6-3 in a dramatic final lasting 3 hours and 25 minutes.

Sharapova won the first set characterized by a marathon twelfth game (Henin’s service game). The Belgian saved seven break/set points and there were ten deuces, but she couldn’t resist Sharapova pressure longer than that, and the fighting Russian took the first set 7-5.

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Justine Henin booked her place in the final of the Sony Ericsson Championships with a 6-4 6-4 win over Ana Ivanovic. The 20-year-old Serb was a tough opponent, but Henin is Henin.

World number four Ivanovic started the match with a 2-0 lead, but the Belgian quickly recovered and forced Ivanovic to battle from behind in both sets (in the first set from 5-2 down and from 3-0 in the second). Fighting Ivanovic offered glimpses of hope to her fans when she rebroke Henin in both the first and the second set. However, the Serb couldn’t keep up that tempo and in the end lost to the superior world number one.

To defend her title, the Belgian will need to overcome in-form Maria Sharapova who advanced to the final defeating Anna Chakvetadze. The two former champions of this important tournament will face each other at 4 p.m. (Madrid time) on Sunday.

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World No.6 Maria Sharapova defeated Russian compatriot Anna Chakvetadze 6-2 6-2 on Saturday at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid.

World No.7 Chakvetadze started the match well, winning her first service game and even having a break point on Sharapova’s serve. However, Sharapova won the game with a fantastic second serve to even the score to 1-1. Since then, the 20-year-old Sharapova broke her opponent twice and took a 4-1 lead. This vividly demotivated Chakvetadze, and it became clear that the first set was over for her.

The second set was a continuation of a desperate situation for Anna Chakvetadze. Sharapova had an opportunity to break her opponent in the first game of the set! And what happened…Chakvetadze gave away her first service game by foot faulting and then making her second double fault. Chances of Chakvetadze bringing back her mental strength and hope then became minimal.

In this match, Sharapova obviously showed much better tennis than Chakvetadze, but Chakvetadze could have increased her chances only if she had converted some of five break points she had.

Even though she lost this semifinal, Anna Chakvetadze can be very satisfied with what she has achieved, both at the tournament in Madrid and in 2007 season.

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The Sony Ericsson Championships order of play for Saturday, November 10, 2007:

From 11.30hrs (Madrid time)

1. Chan/Chuang vs. Srebotnik/Sugiyama
2. Chakvetadze vs. Sharapova (not before 14.00hrs)
3. Henin vs. Ivanovic (not before 16.00hrs)
4. Black/Huber vs. Peschke/Stubbs

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