Tracy Austin

NEW YORK - Once again it was Justine Henin against Serena Williams in the quarterfinals of a major. That's become a trend this year. It first occurred at the French Open, was repeated at Wimbledon, and tripled up here at the U.S. Open.

What's also become a trend is the petite but powerful Henin getting the best of the bigger and stronger Serena, who lost to the world No. 1 in two sets on clay in Paris, three sets on the lawns in London, and two sets (7-6, 6-1) on the hard courts of Flushing Meadows.

Belgian shows her best
Serena quickly put herself in a hole by surrendering her serve in the first game of the first set. From that point on she began playing catch up and that pattern continued when she was broken in the second game of the second set. Serena did fight back to force a tiebreaker in the first set by saving a set point with Henin serving in the 10th game, but the Belgian never lost control of the match.

Henin picked up a real edge with her success at the net. She was far better at the net, winning 11 of 14 points when she pressed forward, while Serena was only 5-for-14. That’s a versatility that Serena doesn’t really have in her game. Henin feels comfortable with her volleys and where to position herself at the net for the optimum result. Henin and Amelie Mauresmo are the two best volleyers on tour.

Serena is not as comfortable in either volleying or being in the right position to volley at the net. And Henin is smart enough to take advantage of Serena’s discomfort at the net by not going for the first volley winner. She doesn’t go for the pass on that first volley, she just gets the ball low and dipping, then she goes for the pass on the second volley when she has her balance.

Serena has a great serve but it wasn’t enough to help her regroup after losing the first set. Henin played much more aggressively in the second set. She has better movement on the court when she’s in a defensive position. If you watch her footwork you’ll be amazed at how many little steps she takes to the ball. That certainly makes for great balance. Her footwork is flawless.

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Henin was so confident and so willing to attack. That kept Serena on the defensive for the most part. Henin cleverly kept Serena on the run, steering her in one direction and then in another along the baseline until she found an opening to launch her brilliant backhand or a well-placed forehand.

Henin spent the night being able to wrong-foot Serena to end a point. Henin was the superior player and she was able to rush Serena to where she got all out of sorts.

If Serena can’t get that first strike she can get into big trouble and that's just what happened against Henin.

Henin had something to prove
Henin is unlike her American rival in that she lives and breathes tennis while Serena has so many outside interests her focus is not always where it needs to be as far as her tennis career is concerned.

In all the years I’ve watched Henin play she has been the consummate professional. When Henin walks on the court, she stands pretty tall despite being one of the shorter players (5-foot-5) in the game. She’s always in shape and ready to play.

This was an important match for Henin to win. Wimbledon marked the first time that she had beaten Serena on any other surface but clay and that win had a bit of an asterisk on it because of Serena’s thumb injury.

Henin had a shot at beating Serena on hard courts in Miami earlier this year, but she couldn't get the job done. For her that was unfinished business, and she came to New York hoping to get a chance to take care of that -- and boy did she ever!

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