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No stopping Justine Henin as she serves up a Madrid master class

It’s been a mixed bag for the Yellow Group at the Sony Ericsson WTA Championships with Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic pulling out with injuries. But Anna Chakvetadze has made a sturdy debut into the semis.

by Aasim Shaffi on 10 November 2007

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Anna Chakvetadze: Surprise semi-finalist in Madrid (Gettyimages.com)

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The semi-finalists of the Sony Ericcson WTA Championships in Madrid will be fought out between the favourite, Justine Henin against Ana Ivanovic, and Anna Chakvetadze against her compatriot, Maria Sharapova.

The great disappointment in the Yellow Group was the withdrawal through injury of Serena Williams early in the tournament and also Jelena Jankovic. This is how the Yellow Groujp performed:

Justine Henin: Excelled probably beyond her expectations. The Belgian kicked things off in Madrid with a comfortable 6-4 7-6(4) win over Chakvetadze. A perfect start, but her consistent 2007 threat in the form of Jelena Jankovic waited. But it was all one big surprise as Henin stormed through against the Serbian 6-2 6-2. Marion Bartoli rushed to Madrid as an alternative for the injured Serena Williams only to be whitewashed 6-0 6-0, sweet revenge for Henin after her semi-final defeat at the hands of the French girl at Wimbledon.

'The great disappointment in the Yellow Group was the withdrawal through injury of Serena Williams early in the tournament and also Jelena Jankovic'

Anna Chakvetadze: No one expected her to make it to the semi-final, but she gained from Serena’s lose and kept a sluggish Jankovic on the floor. Anna didn’t look too promising after a thrashing from Justine but she took advantage of a slow and injured Serena Williams to claim the first set and prevail in the second without toomuch effort. Her best performance was displayed when she beat Jankovic, despite the Serbian’s bad performance.

Jelena Jankovic: With a season of heavy duty, Jankovic has seen her after-shocks in the second half of the year. Overdoing it has left Jankovic with little or no petrol. She couldn’t repeat her strong efforts against Justine, as the Belgian gave her no mercy. She lost her chance of qualifying for the semi-finals, as her inconsistency gave Chakvetadze a huge leg up. Her up and down play could obviously be seen in the score line 4-6 6-0 3-6. She finally quit against Bartoli,saying: "I have a virus and I've been sick for a couple of days.' An unfortunate virus and lack of energy wrecked a sensational 2007 for Jelena Jankovic.

Serena Williams: Came to Madrid as a big threat and with high hopes. But even with fancy taping on her legs, she couldn’t hide the injury as her legs just didn't work in her first game against Chakvetadze. She lost the first set 6-4 before calling it a day.

The Yellow Group has been disappointing, as the unhealthy Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic have left Madrid. But Chakvetadze took full advantage to secure a a semi-final birth and Henin played dazzling tennis. while all her opponents under achieved against her.

For more information on the Madrid showdowns visit my tennis website:www.ashaffi.page.tl

What are your thoughts on the Yellow Group performances? Post your comments below or submit an article on tennis to Sportingo.

Comments (10)

by PAUL PANGILINAN on November 10, 2007

serena took one long look at the draw, saw henin's name and crafted the best face-saving harakiri she could think of: why not come to Madrid and put on a show of genuine interest then slink out of the frame before i actually get to meet henin?" Of course it only made things easier when she saw how henin dismantled chakvetadze with relatively ease on her first outing. She knew she'd never last. She was beaten even before she took the court against henin. The very thought of being across the net against henin was simply too much for serena to bear. She knew henin had a nicely wrapped 6-1, 6-2 gift waiting for her. what a has-been.

by hmmmn... on November 10, 2007

this is starting to play out exactly like 1987 all over again. navratilova (substitute with serena williams for the 2007 analogue), holding on to the last vestiges of glory trying to ward off the graf (replace with henin) bullet train coming at her at full speed. She knows this isn't evert, mandlikova or goolagong (replace with hingis, davenport and capriati)that she used to bully on court. she would play all tournaments that graf would be skipping and on the few occasions that they would meet despite the fist-pumping, the c'mons and the hipslaps you could see the deer-in-headlights look in her eyes. right across the net is a force bigger than she will ever be. at least martina never feigned injuries. serena is scared of justine because she knows justine owns her. now she has reduced the sport to an endless list of excuses. serena you know as well as everybody does that justine will get you 2 and 2 at melbourne in january, love and 1 at miami and will take you down 6-4, 7-5 at wimbledon for her very fi

by hmmmn... on November 10, 2007

of course we all know by now what graf did in '88. ah yes, an ominous foreboding for the entire Williams camp. even now as I speak henin is growing in confidence. her back-to-back victory at flushing meadows over the sisters have effectively opened the floodgates of renewed self-belief for the other girls that the sisters are beatable. we all know that the williams game (singular) hinges in equal parts brute force and intimidation. the 2007 us open has shattered the sisters' aura of invincibility and now all the girls believe they can get the sisters.

by Kumar on November 10, 2007

Justine has moved from strength to strength these last few weeks. Her game has soared to a new level altogether, crafting seemingly impossible shots from all corners of the court, beating all the power-baseliners convincingly and scooping up 9 titles already. Serena should just shut her big mouth until she actually faces (and, inconceivably, beats) Justine. An endless laundry-list of injuries just prior to crucial matches, all supposed to justify her big losses. I think no one is fooled now. If she is so injury-prone, let her take another year off, lose a hundred pounds, develop something resembling a game and return to see if she can pull off another Grand Slam(except everyone will be prepared now). It is good Justine faces Maria in the final. If she beats the Russian, as I think she will, it will cap an impressive domination of the power game with guile and finesse-power. Allez!