Hat-trick Henin

All her wins in French Open finals have come in straight sets and this was no exception as the 19-year-old Ivanovic, playing in her first Grand Slam final, failed to reproduce the sparkling form that saw off Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals.

Clad in the same all-black dress with a pink horizontal stripe that had seen her win six in a row in Paris, Ivanovic did get off to an encouraging start. She blasted a forehand winner down the line to open the final and broke Henin’s serve when the Belgian double-faulted on break point.

Ivanovic then had three points at 40-0 on her own serve to go 2-0 up but she started having problems with her toss allowing Henin to get into the match and break back, thanks to a soul-destroying net-cord. Two games later and still struggling to relax, Ivanovic again had game point on her serve, but again she failed to convert it and then a double fault gave Henin a second straight break of serve to go 3-1 up. Against a player who had won 20 matches in a row at Roland Garros, the last 16 in straight sets, that was a luxury that Ivanovic could ill afford.

Henin grabbed control of the rallies switching the play intelligently from side to side to move around her much bigger opponent. The Belgian rattled off the next three games to take the first set 6-1 in just 34 minutes. The agony continued for Ivanovic as she dropped her serve in the opening game of the second set and she was rapidly 2-0 down and left with a mountain to climb.

The Serb did manage to stop the rot of eight games in a row lost by winning her next service game, but two games later she was put under pressure by Henin and once again she crumbled. That left Henin 4-1 up and all but home and dry and she showed no mercy clinching her fourth French Open title on her own serve pushing away an easy volley at the net. Henin will next go on to challenge for her first Wimbledon title to complete her Grand Slam set having also consolidated her position as the world No 1. For Ivanovic, the consolation is that she will rise to sixth in the world rankingshaving established herself as a genuine contender at Grand Slam tournaments.

Molik, SAntangelo win

Alicia Molik put her injury woes behind her when she partnered Mara Santangelo to capture her first Grand Slam doubles title in over two years at the French Open on Friday. The Australian-Italian duo overcame seventh seeds Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama 7-6, 6-4 to claim their first major trophy together. In the men’s doubles final on Saturday Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Daniel Nestor from Canada defeated the Czech pair of Lukas Dlouhy and Pavel Vizner in three sets 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Most lopsided finals

2007 Justine Henin bt Ana Ivanovic, 6-1, 6-2

2005 Justine HeninHardenne bt Mary Pierce 6-1, 6-1

2004 Anastasia Myskina bt Elena Dementieva, 6-1, 6-2

1988 Steffi Graf bt Natasha Zvereva 6-0, 6-0

1983 Chris Evert Lloyd bt Mima Jausovec, 6-1, 6-2

1980 Chris Evert Lloyd bt Virginia Ruzici 6-0, 6-3

1979 Chris Evert Lloyd bt Wendy Turnbull, 6-2, 6-0

1974 Chris Evert bt Olga Morozova 6-1, 6-2

1961 Ann Haydon bt Yola Ramirez, 6-2, 6-1

1938 Simone Passemard Mathieu bt Nelly Adamson Landry, 6-0, 6-3.

1935 Hilda Krahwinkel Sperling bt Simone Passemard Mathieu 6-2, 6-1

1930 Helen Wills Moody bt Helen Jacobs 6-2, 6-1

1928 Helen Wills bt Eileen Bennett 6-1, 6-2

1926 Suzanne Lenglen bt Mary K Browne 6-1, 6-0

1925 Suzanne Lenglen bt Kitty McKane 6-1, 6-2

Match stats

Justine Henin

1st Serve 55%

Aces 1

Double faults 1

Unforced errors 14

Winners 8

Ana Ivanovic

1st Serve 50%

Aces 0

Double faults 5

Unforced errors 31

Winners 5

QuoteUquote

I had some very tough times at the start of the year. I hung in there these last few months. And now I’ve found an immense pleasure on the court once more

—Justine Henin