Preview: Re-match time
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ByEurosport
Published 12/11/2006 at 01:24 GMT
Two of the top players in the world face off in a rematch of the Wimbledon and Australian Open finals, as Justine Henin-Hardenne will look for a different result against Amelie Mauresmo in the WTA Tour Championships final in Madrid on Sunday. LIVE NOW
TENNIS Henin-Hardenne Mauresmo
Image credit: Imago
Mauresmo and Henin-Hardenne had perhaps the best two seasons of any women on the circuit in 2006, and it is only fitting they meet in the final WTA match of the season.
Mauresmo won both grand slam finals where the two met earlier this year, while Henin-Hardenne won the French Open crown and went to the finals in each of the year's four grand slams.
Henin-Hardenne is the first woman to reach all four grand slam finals and the season-ending Tour Championships final since Steffi Graf did so in 1993, sweeping all but the Australian Open.
Though Mauresmo beat Henin-Hardenne in Friday's round-robin, the match was meaningless for the Belgian, who had already qualified for the semi-finals.
The French No. 1 acknowledged that the final would be a completely different story.
"Tomorrow all the counters will be set to zero," she told Eurosport after her 6-2 3-6 6-3 semi-finals victory over Henin-Hardenne's compatriot Kim Clijsters.
"As far as Friday is concerned, the match was not decisive for her qualification. It's good that we replay it, that we meet each other again for the final match of the year, because we both of us had extraordinary seasons."
Though Henin-Hardenne will finish the year with the No. 1 ranking and won Mauresmo's much coveted, yet never achieved, French Open title, the Frenchwoman said she would not trade seasons with her Belgian counter-part "for anything."
"Everything she did was also extraordinary, but I would not change it," Mauresmo said. "The No. 1 ranking, is not the most important thing. It's the titles that matter."
Henin-Hardenne was proud of her own accomplishments in 2006.
"It's going to be me and I'm very happy about that," Henin-Hardenne said about her first No. 1 ranking in more than two years. "It's not easy to get to the finals of all four Grand Slams, and that's what I did. I've been very consistent, and I'm now in the final again.
"2006 is almost done, and when I look back, I see only good things, even when I think about my tough matches in the Grand Slam finals. It's probably the best season of my career and I will enjoy it in the next two months."
Follow LIVE coverage of the WTA Tour Championships final from 16:00 CET on www.eurosport.com and Eurosport television.
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