Henin-Hardenne seizes early initiative

Justine Henin-Hardenne took the first set to love in the historic all-Belgian French Open final against her compatriot Kim Clijsters.

The 21-year-old Walloon completely dominated the opening set, displaying some of the shots which carried her to victory over world number one and defending champion Serena Williams in the semi-finals, and wrapped up the opener 6-0 in just 26 minutes against her opponent from Flanders.

Clijsters, who will be 20 on Sunday, looked uncomfortable and missed three break point chances in game one after leading her rival 40-0 on her own serve.

Henin-Hardenne broke Clijsters on her first service game after a smash at the net gave her the break point, which she then converted with a winning forehand.

Despite then trailing 0-40 on her own serve the French-speaking Henin-Hardenne saved all the break points thanks to a dropshot and two unforced errors from Flemish-speaker Clijsters, before taking a 2-0 advantage with an ace.

Clijsters’ constant mistakes on her forehand led to her lose her serve again and allowed her obviously highly-motivated rival to take a 3-0 lead after just 12 minutes of play.

But Henin-Hardenne, like in her previous service game, found herself down again 0-40 before scoring five points in a row to win the game and make it 4-0.

Clijsters then offered a break-point chance after missing a dropshot and conceded a 5-0 advantage to Henin-Hardenne with serving a double fault.

It was then just a formality for Henin-Hardenne to seal the first set on her second opportunity with a backhand dropshot.