Battle of the backhands

This match should prove to be a stylish encounter, with both women known for their single-handed backhands in a women's game now dominated by the less fluid two-handed variety.

While Henin-Hardenne looks to add to her collection of four major titles, her opponent, Amelie Mauresmo hopes to dispel the criticism that has dogged her career after a myriad of high-profile failures at the later stages of grand slam tournaments.

Third ranked Mauresmo burst onto the world scene in 1999 with a run to the final in that year's Australian Open as an unseeded 19-year-old, which ended at the hands of Martina Hingis in two sets.

Since then, 23 major tournaments had passed until she was to match this achievement.

Now 26-years-old, she had to wait until the end of last season to win the biggest tournament of her career when she won the season-ending WTA Championships in Los Angeles in November.

"I think after LA I really convinced myself I was capable of doing it," Mauresmo told a news conference on Friday. "It came at the right time for me."

The Frenchwoman will hope to have learnt key lessons before stepping out into the Rod Lever Arena on Saturday.

"I'm getting tougher and tougher as my career goes on. Now I know I'm capable of getting to these occasions and I'm really considering having some more," she said.

Henin-Hardenne has also had her problems, but of a completely different kind, after injury has seriously disrupted her progress in recent times.

Both knee and hamstring injuries have curtailed her involvement in the tour, and she is now thankful to finally be injury-free and enjoying a run of matches.

The Belgian is seen as the clear favourite for the title, and has won their previous two encounters, including the Olympic final in Athens, the same year she won the Australian Open. She now holds a 4-3 advantage in their head-to-head record.

The aforementioned knee injury prevented her from making a defence of her Australian Open title in 2005, and despite winning the French Open later that year, she was never happy with her fitness levels.

Now ranked sixth in the world, she declared that now feels in her best shape for nearly two years.

"Even if I played well in a couple of tournaments I wasn't feeling physically as well as I am feeling now," she said. "When you're feeling healthy one hundred percent, then mentally you're feeling stronger."

After a layoff at the end of last season, and not even being certain of travelling out to Australia before her recovery from injury, Justine is clearly delighted to be back where she feels she belongs.

Australian Open: Women's singles draw