Serena Williams has never won the Australian Open Championship in an even year. That is no longer a true statement as she wrestled for the championship this year, 2010, an even year, from Justine Henin, 6/4 3/6 6/2.
Serena put a stop in the resurgence of the Belgians from their retirements. Kim Clijsters returned to professional tennis a few matches before the US Open last year and was victorious over Serena in the controversial semifinal match where Serena lost her composure over a foot fault call from a line judge. Her tirade over the line judge cost her the match and paved the way for Clijsters to win the 2009 US Open Championship, her first major after her return to tennis competition.
Henin, inspired by the instant success of Clijsters, decided to make a comeback a couple of matches ahead of this year's Australian Open. She withdrew from the second match she was scheduled to play. After their individual semifinal matches, it looks like Serena was done after struggling to finish off Na Li, one of the two Chinese women to make it ever to the Australian Open semifinals. Justine had a much easier match with the other Chinese player, Jie Zheng. Serena still had to play in the women's double's semifinal later that day with her older sister Venus Williams and having won that match played another match in the championship yesterday and won. Justine was favored by odds-makers to win this finals.
The much fresher Justine Henin yielded to the more seasoned, more powerful veteran in Serena Williams in their first ever finals in a major.
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