Wilander on women's final
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ByEurosport
Published 08/06/2007 at 18:40 GMT
Three times French Open champion and Eurosport expert Mats Wilander runs the rule of the women's final at Roland Garros, and believes that the longer the match goes on, the great the chance that Justin Henin can pick up her fourth title.
TENNIS Justine Henin Ana Ivanovic - women's finalist Roland Garros 2007
Image credit: Eurosport
Justine Henin is of course the favourite going into the women's final with Ana Ivanovic, this is the tournament she is supposed to win, she is going for three in a row, and she can create a bit of history.
I think the longer the match goes on, the greater the chance that Justine will go on and win it.
Ivanovic has to come out and really play positive tennis, hitting winners is what her game is all about, but she also has to be careful not to go for too much too early.
I think Justine just needs to come out and be a little tight. This shouldn't be problem for her as it is a Grand Slam final, and everyone is a little tight in a big final.
She has to be careful in the opening four or five minutes because Ivanovic hits the ball with a lot of pace and serves better that some of the other ladies that Justine has faced so far.
I feel that two key shots in the match could well be Ivanovic's forehand and Henin's backhand.
Ivanovic can generate so much power on her forehand but she also has a great backhand which she feels allows her to go for big shots with that forehand because her backhand is good enough to stay with anybody.
However, Justine's backhand is one of the better looking shots in tennis in either the men's or the women's game.
She can also slice her backhand which gives her an advantage over Ivanovic, because Ana has a two handed backhand which makes it very hard for her to learn the slice.
Henin, on the other hand, has a beautiful slice; she can hit drop shots off it, and she is also very comfortable at the net because it is basically the same stroke - she is still just using the one hand.
It should be a really interesting match, especially in the opening hour, and I just hope that Ivanovic stays in there and keeps fighting if she ever finds herself in a position where it looks like she might lose the match.
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