Justine Wins Championships


MADRID, Spain - Eight women arrived in Madrid in a fight for season-ending honor. Justine Henin-Hardenne was arguably the least-prepared, having missed the entire fall Sony Ericsson WTA Tour season with a right knee injury; but she stayed true to her reputation as one of the grittiest competitors in the history of the game and rose above the all-star field, clinching her return to No.1 with a semifinal triumph over Maria Sharapova on Saturday, then capturing her first Sony Ericsson Championships title with a resonant 64 63 victory over Amélie Mauresmo on Sunday.

Henin-Hardenne was by and large the aggressor against Mauresmo, crushing her big groundstrokes and serves into the corners and, in particular, dominating play on her opponent's serve. She won over half the points on the Frenchwoman's delivery and had break points in eight of those 10 games, eventually converting on six. A double fault on match point handed the Belgian her first season-ending title.

"I was close to winning our match two days ago, but it wasn't good enough at the end of the second set," said Henin-Hardenne, who lost 46 76(3) 62 to Mauresmo in the round robin. "So from the first point to the end today I decided to put more pressure. I played amazing at the end. I had a lot of motivation and that's what I missed in my last match against Amélie on Friday. So that was the difference."