Justine Henin-Hardenne won her fifth Grand Slam and her third at Roland Garros, beating Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-4 in the French Open final Saturday.Seeded fifth, the Belgian became the first woman to win consecutive titles at Roland Garros since Steffi Graf in 1995-96, and the first to win three French Open titles in four years since Graf in 1993-96. Henin-Hardenne also became the first woman to win the title without losing a set since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1994.But the victory didn’t come easily. On the warmest day of the tournament the match almost became an endurance contest. Henin-Hardenne looked tired early in the second set and applied a bag of ice to the back of her neck during changeovers.She struggled with her renowned backhand early but served well and took advantage of Kuznetsova’s erratic forehand. Henin-Hardenne summoned some of her best tennis in the final few games, winning 11 of 12 points during one stretch.The Belgian has long spoken of the French Open as her favourite tournament. She attended Roland Garros as a child with her mother, who died when Henin-Hardenne was 12. And on Saturday, she was again the queen of clay.Federer and Nadal in clay classic todayAfter two weeks slugging it out on the punishing clay at Roland Garros, world number one Roger Federer faces the biggest challenge of his career on Sunday. If the 24-year-old Swiss can overcome defending champion Rafael Nadal in the French Open final, he will have gone a long way to justifying the assertion of many that he is the best tennis player ever. Federer will join Australian Rod Laver and American Don Budge as the only men to win four consecutive Grand Slams. It has only been achieved once in the prol era — Laver’s second Grand Slam of 1969.
