Henin-Hardenne on target in Family Circle Cup victory
Former No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne showed she’s back in top form Sunday, beating second-seeded Elena Dementieva 7-5, 6-4 to win the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C., in her second tournament since returning from illness and injury.
“I won 20 tournaments in my career and this one is very special because it is after such a long, hard time,” Henin-Hardenne said. “It’s been very emotional for me today because I come from something really bad, very bad experience last year.”
The Belgian, ranked No. 43 in the world, raised her racket high in the air and then pumped her fists after closing out Dementieva, ranked No. 5.
Later the players, who have practiced together in the past, kissed each other on the cheek as they met at the net before Henin-Hardenne collected the crystal cup which goes to the winner.
Henin-Hardenne spent most of last year ranked No. 1, winning the Australian Open and gold at the Athens Olympics. But after the U.S. Open, she suffered a viral illness and then a knee injury while practicing in late December. Her first match back was last month’s Nasdaq-100 Open, where she made it to the quarterfinals.
Henin-Hardenne, who will now move up to No. 22 in the world rankings, became only the second unseeded player to win the Family Circle Cup in the $1.3 million tournament’s 32-year history. Iva Majoli did it three years ago.
The champion, who takes home $189,000, also won her second Family Circle Cup title in as many appearances. Henin-Hardenne beat Serena Williams in the final two years ago and is now 11-0 in matches played on the green clay on Daniel Island.
ATP
Rafael Nadal won the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco, beating defending champion Guillermo Coria 6-3, 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 for his first Masters title.
The 18-year-old Spaniard became the first teenager in more than a decade to win at Monte Carlo and denied Coria his first ATP title this season.
Coria made a good comeback in the last two sets of this key tuneup for the French Open, but Nadal held on for his fourth career title. The last teenager to win Monte Carlo was Andrei Medvedev in 1994. Nadal’s other two titles this year were also on clay.
Coria, seeded sixth, was appearing in his third consecutive Monte Carlo final after losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2003 and defeating Schuettler last year.
The Argentine made plenty of unforced errors in the opening two sets, trying to find ways to get to Nadal. The 11th-seeded Spaniard then won 11 of 12 games and produced a love service game to take the second set.