Williams hops past Henin for title

Williams closed out the victory with a service winner, accepted gracious congratulations from Henin and then waved her index finger for the cheering crowd, intent on returning to the top. The match was 39 minutes old before Williams won a game, and Henin was twice one point from the title serving at 5-4 in the second set. “I said, ‘I don’t want to lose this fast. At least let it last an hour,” Williams said.

With Henin serving at 40-15, Williams saved the first championship point by smacking an overhead winner after skipping her return off the net. She reached deuce by hitting a strong forehand to force an errant backhand by the Belgian. Two points later, Henin slipped and took an awkward tumble, skinning her left knee, and she lost the next six points. She fell again trailing 3-0 in the final set and remained seated on the sunbaked concrete for nearly a minute, as if debating whether to concede.

The feisty Henin rose and rallied for 3-all, before Williams began one final surge to earn her fourth Key Biscayne title. “She’s a fighter,” Henin said. “It’s tough to close the matches against her, because she goes for it. She’s a champion, and that makes a difference from the other players, for sure.”

Playing in only her seventh tournament in the past 18 months — and her first since Melbourne — Williams improved to 15-1 this year and 41-5 at Key Biscayne.

“I was making a lot of errors,” Williams said. “Justine was moving up to the ball and blasting winners. I had to lift the level of my game and stop making errors.”

The crowd was in Williams’ corner and roaring as she began to rally.

“I remember I missed a shot, and the whole crowd was like, ‘Awwww,”’ she said. “It was really like they were all leaning on that one ball, and everyone was so involved. At that point, I just was having a good time. I was just like, ‘Wow, this is fun.’ I continued to fight.”

Williams vs Henin was their first meeting in nearly four years. There were hard feelings in both camps after Henin beat Williams in the 2003 French Open semi-finals, but they engaged in a warm conversation following the revival of the rivalry.

“The relationship is very good now,” Henin said. “We have a lot of respect for each other. We both agree that we are very good players. So what happened in the past is far away from now.”

Meanwhile, two first-time Key Biscayne finalists will meet for the men’s title on Sunday: 29-year-old Argentine qualifier Guillermo Canas and 19-year-old Serbian Novak Djokovic.