Irresistible Henin-Hardenne takes Belgian fans to Nirvana
There’s probably never been a moment like it in Belgian tennis! The moment
Elena Dementieva double-faulted to seal a superb 62 60 victory for Justine
Henin-Hardenne the Country Hall arena exploded into a sea of red, yellow and
black, and the champagne flowed in every direction. Belgium’s reserve players
Caroline Maes and Kirsten Flipkens chased Kim Clijsters round the court,
spraying her with bubbly, and the on-court camera people will have to explain
to their bosses on Monday why their equipment reeks of champagne.
Although Belgium was Fed Cup champion in 2001, the competition was smaller then
and the Belgians won away in Spain. That’s why parading their two
greatest-ever players at home against a team with two top-tenners which hadn’t
lost in the competition since November 2003 was always going to be a massive
spectacle. To win, and to do so in great style, unleashed scenes of celebration
probably never witnessed in the Belgian tennis community. And to cap it all,
Clijsters and Henin-Hardenne volunteered to play the doubles to reward those
fans who stayed on for the dead rubber.
It wasn’t just that Belgium won the two reverse singles to turn a finely
balanced tie into a decisive win – it was the way they did it that was so
impressive. Clijsters played well enough against Maria Kirilenko to atone for
her defeat to Dementieva on Saturday, but it was Henin-Hardenne’s performance
that really took the breath away. Dementieva didn’t play badly, she didn’t
give up, her double faults only came in the final game, but she was simply
outplayed.
Henin-Hardenne runs riot
Whatever she threw at the French Open champion came back with interest, and the
Liege-born Belgian had her home crowd purring with her flowing backhands, her
precision forehands and her beautifully disguised dropshots. Dementieva seemed
to have got back on track after losing the first two games when she won a
marathon fourth to level at 2-2. But that was to be her last game as Henin-
Hardenne ran riot.
Clijsters had built the foundations of Sunday’s victory parade with a 61 64
win over the 19-year-old Fed Cup by BNP Paribas debutante Kirilenko, who came
in for Nadia Petrova . No reason was given for Petrova’s absence, so it could
be that she was just short of gas after lots of recent tennis, capped by
Saturday’s three-setter against Henin-Hardenne. With Kirilenko in the best
form of her career and up to No. 22 in the rankings, it seemed a smart move.
Kirilenko's nerves
Yet Kirilenko needed a set to get the nerves of playing for her country out of
her system. In the first she was almost paralysed with fear, she mistimed most
of her backhands, and her stunted movement made her look very sluggish. By
contrast, Clijsters was on the rebound from Saturday’s defeat to Dementieva,
and was striking the ball so beautifully Kirilenko more than once had to use
a left-handed forehand to retrieve shots hit wide to her backhand wing.
Kirilenko played her best tennis in the second set, moving much better and
matching Clijsters most of the way, but when it came to the big points,
Clijsters had something in reserve. She took over on break point in the fifth
game, and after letting the Russian back from 2-5 to 4-5, she played an
authoritative game to seal victory in an hour and 10 minutes.
The Belgians will be at home in July’s semi-finals against the USA.
Asked whether she could possibly miss it, Henin-Hardenne said: “I don’t think
so.We’ll have to look at the calendar, it’s always very hard to predict what’s
going to happen, let’s go step-by-step.” That caution is part of her make-up,
but after such a rapturous welcome and an ecstatic reaction to their victory,
it’ll be hard for both Belgium’s players to resist the call of the nation the
week after Wimbledon.
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