Justine Henin Vs Svetlana Kuznetsova Preview: US Open 2007

Justine Henin and Svetlana Kuznetsova will meet in the final of Women’s singles of US Open 2007. World no. 1 Justine Henin defeated Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in the semi final and ensured the final of US Open 2007. Russian star Svetlana Kuznetsova has huge potential to confront against Henin. However, it is true that Justine Henin is favorite for the match.

Justine Henin and Some Facts

Justine is now in her way to become another legend of Women’s tennis. Henin has already won six grand slam titles in her career. Except the Wimbledon title, Henin won all other grand slam tournament in her career. So, she is now definitely determined to win the seventh grand slam title in her career. In the semi final this Belgian tennis star defeated another star Venus Williams in two direct sets. Henin faced strong challenge in the first set as she had to win through tiebreaker. Henin won the first set by 7(7)- 6(2). However, Venus Williams could not live up to the expectation in the second set as Henin win the second set by 6-4.

Justine Henin came to the tennis world during the tenure of Williams sisters. That was the time of power tennis. Both Serena and Venus were in their prime form and hardly any opponent could stop them. For a girl with 5 ft 5+¹⁄₂ in height, it was really unbelievable to dominate the world at that time and compete with Venus and Serena Williams. However, Justine Henin could make it possible and curtain the dominance of Williams sisters.

Justine Henin was born in June 1, 1982 in Belgium. Her father José Henin and mother Françoise Rosière, both was teacher by profession. Justine Henin started playing at a local tennis club near their house in Rochefort. Henin started playing tennis at the age of six. In her childhood, she along with her mother went to France to see French Open several times. Having seen her idol Steffi Graf loosing against Monica Seles in the final of 1992 French Open, she told her mother that she would play there one day and would win. To tell the truth, that little girl has already won French Open titles four times in which last three were in a row. Justine Henin was ambitious from her childhood which guided her to become the world no. 1 in the tennis world. Carlos Rodriguez is her long time coach in her career to whom she has been training since 1995.

The main advantage of Justine Henin is that she can play in all courts with equal success. Earlier, I mentioned that she came into the period of power tennis. Actually, Henin is also a follower of power tennis despite his tiny physique. Justine Henin has a combination of both power and skill. Henin is most famous for her Power services are one of her main weapons. Her single handed backhands and slice backhands are something special that you can not expect so perfectly from any other player in Women’s tennis at this moment. Moreover, her movement and balance have made her more successful in her career.

Justine Henin came to play profession tennis at the age of 16 in 1999. In her first WTA tournament, Belgian Open, Henin won the title to become the fifth player to win WTA title in his debut tournament. She first came to lime light in 2001 as she reached at the semi final of French Open and final of Wimbledon. Justine Henin finished the year at seven in the WTA ranking. The year 2003 was the breakthrough year for Justine Henin as she won her first grand slam title in French Open 2003. Henin also won US Open title in the same year. From then on, winning grand slam has become a habit for Justine Henin.

Justine Henin started the year with a bad incident which made him to miss the Australian Open 2007. Justine Henin got divorced during the time and went though a hard time. However, Justine Henin did not look back and came back with the French Open and won the title for three consecutive years. In Wimbledon, Henin failed again as she lost at semi final.

Justine Henin has nothing to prove in the tennis world. I think, she has the potential to win the US Open 2007 title and if she is in her prime form then it would not be a problem for her to win the seventh grand slam title in her career. So, what she needs is to play her natural game in the final.

Svetlana Kuznetsova and Some Facts

Svetlana Kuznetsova will play her second US Open file in this tournament. This fourth seed Russian has defeated another Russian, sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze in the first semi final of women’s singles of US Open 2007. Kuznetsova won her first and only grand slam title in US Open 2007. As a teenager of 19, it was something unexpected that she would win the US Open title leaving behind the then stars like Lindsay Davenport, Elena Dementieva etc.

Now, after three years, Svetlana Kuznetsova is more matured and has proved her ability in world tennis during this time several times. However, Kuznetsova failed to live up to the expectation of her fans in the grand slam tournament. Except reaching in the French Open final in 2006, she could not show any other impressive performances in grand slam tournaments in the last three years. However, Kuznetsova continued her successes in WTA tournaments. Svetlana Kuznetsova has already won 9 WTA titles.

Born in Leningrad, Russia, Svetlana Kuznetsova learned tennis in Spain. She came to Spain at 13 in order to get higher training in tennis. Svetlana Kuznetsova came from a sports family. Her father was a cycling coach and coach five Olympic and World cycling champions. Moreover, her mother, Galina Tsareva is a six time world champion and she made 20 world records in her career. Last but not least, her brother Nikolai Kuznetsov won a silver medal cycling in 1966 Summer Olympics. Actually, Svetlana Kuznetsova was also in the queue to join cycling but she did not find interest in cycling.

Now, not doubt, Svetlana Kuznetsova is a world star. Kuznetsova joined professional tennis in 2000 at the age of 15. So, you can see how much talent this Russian teenager had that led her to join professional when she was just 15 and that was the start of this tennis star. She won her first career title at the age of 16 in Cagliari, Italy in 2001. Kuznetsova won her first WTA title in Helsinki in 2002 which was followed by her second WTA title in the same year at Bali.

From then on, Svetlana Kuznetsova never looked back. Gradually she was coming into line light. The brake through year was in 2004 when Kuznetsova won her first Grand Slam title in US Open 2004. With that title, Kuznetsova rose to stardom overnight. Her ranking was increasing rapidly and she started getting focuses international media. The year 2007 was also good for her. Just before the US Open 2007, Svetlana Kuznetsova won the Pilot Len Tennis at New Havana defeating Hungarian Agnes Szavay in the final. Interestingly, Agnes Szavay was also the quarter final opponent of Svetlana Kuznetsova in US Open 2007. Kuznetsova reached at the final of three other WTA tournaments this year.

The best shot of Svetlana Kuznetsova is undoubtedly her powerful forehand. She likes to play from the baseline and is very quick mover. So, she gets much time before hitting the ball and can observe the opponent players position easily. Svetlana Kuznetsova has huge talent and skill in her. Now, what she needs is to perform consistently and try to play her natural game.

At the end, I would like to say that the final match of women’s singles of US Open 2007 can be a classic final. Both Justine Henin and Svetlana Kuznetsovaa are in their prime form. So, both the players are full of confident and determined to win the title. It is very hard to predict regarding the result of the match because it is a big match were both the players have got some promising wins that strengthen their confidence. I just hope to see a competitive match.

Sources:
http://www.tennis.com/livescores/index.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_Henin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svetlana_Kuznetsova

Online Live Score

I know that hardly any of you will miss the Just Henin vs Svetlana Kuznetsova match. However, it is also true that many of you will not be able to watch the match because of your personal and professional tasks. Thinking off those unfortunate fans, I am giving some links of websites that will provide online live score of the match. Here are the links: