Justine Henin-Hardenne, who for most of the year wondered whether she would ever play again as she battled a debilitating virus, completed a remarkable comeback when she won the Olympic women’s tennis gold medal yesterday.
The 22-year-old Belgian never looked as if she would lose as she ran out a 6-3, 6-3 winner over second seed Amelie Mauresmo of France. She broke Mauresmo twice in each set to wrap up the win in 1hr 15min. The Frenchwoman never had a break point and could not compete with the tiny Belgian’s powerful groundstrokes.
“I don’t know how I’m going to celebrate but I certainly will,” she said. “This is just amazing and at last I’m well and getting better the more I play.” Fernando Gonzalez, the 16th seed from Chile, won the men’s singles bronze medal when he beat unseeded American Taylor Dent 6-4, 2-6, 16-14 in a cliffhanger.
Dent saved a match point on his serve in the ninth game of the third set and broke Gonzalez when the Chilean was serving for the match at 5-4 And he had the chance to finish it when Gonzalez saved two match points on his serve in the 28th game of an nerve-wracking third set.
The American then dropped his serve and Gonzalez, due on court later in the night for the doubles final, served out the match in 3hr 25min. Unseeded Australian Alicia Molik won the women’s singles bronze medal when she beat Anastasia Myskina 6-3, 6-4. Myskina was still feeling the effects of her three hour semifinal when she threw away her chance of reaching the gold medal match by allowing Henin-Hardenne to claw her way back from 1-5 in the final set for a dramatic win.
Seventh seeds Paola Suarez and Patricia Tarabini of Argentina beat Japan’s fifth seeds Shinobu Asagoe and Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-3 to win the women’s doubles bronze medal.
Today’s men’s singles final will be another Chile versus United States match-up with Nicolas Massu taking on Mardy Fish.
Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic from Croatia on Friday won the bronze medal in the men’s doubles when they beat the India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes in a marathon match that lasted close to four hours.
Ancic and Ljubicic won the first set 7-6 in the tiebreak, but could do nothing in the second as Paes and Bhupathi ran out 6-4, sending the game into a decisive third set. The final set turned into an epic affair, which Ancic and Ljubicic finally won 16-14, when Paes lost his first serve of the evening. It was the fourth match point for the Croats.
