AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Women's Final

Henin-Hardenne vs Mauresmo!

Well, my predictions in the Australian Open women's semi-finals were 100% accurate, unlike other prognosticators. Justine Henin-Hardenne(8) is playing her now familiar brand of powerful, accurate tennis bolstered by shot making from all sections of the court. The Belgian outlasted the even more powerful, but less acurate Maria Sharapova(4) and the more powerful but less mobile Lindsay Davenport(1) in the semifinal and quarterfinal rounds.

Amélie Mauresmo(3) has had an incredibly lucky tournament. Two of her six opponents have retired hurt (Michaela Krajicek after 1 set in the blistering heat, Kim Clijsters(2) in the 3rd set soon after rolling over her ankle). It's true that Mauresmo was leading in both of those matches, but these retirements have spared Mauresmo facing what is often the weakest part of her game: finishing off matches. She has been playing well (she has far fewer total unforced errors than Henin-Hardenne in the tournament so far) but the Frenchwoman's mental fortitude has not been tested.

I think if Mauresmo wins the first set of the final on Friday 6:30pm PST on ESPN2 then I think she has a good chance of calming down and really going for her shots in order to subdue her mentally ferocious opponent who will not be going down without giving her all. Similarly, if Henin-Hardenne wins the first set it's likely that Mauresmo will be able to rally back to win the middle set, but then I doubt that she will be able to maintain focus long enough to win a 3-set final. Head-to-head Henin-Hardenne leads 4-3, but the Belgian has won most of the big matches (the anomaly being Mauresmo's victory at the 2004 Athen Olympics).

PREDICTION: Mauresmo in straight sets or Henin-Hardenne in three sets.