Celebrity Friday: Clijsters Withdraws From US Open

2-time defending US Open champion Kim Clijsters today withdrew from the 2012 US Open with an abdominal strain. Clijsters had won the title in New York the last three times she played in the tournament, in 2005 (d. Mary Pierce), 2009 (d. Caroline Wozniacki) and 2010 (d. Vera Zvonareva) maintaining a winning streak which dates back to her final loss to Justine Henin in 2003.

Clijsters also won the Australian Open this year but Serena Williams did not defend her 2010 title. Since her return, Serena has won 12 hard-court matches in a row which netted her two titles and must now be considered the favorite to win her 14th major title in New York this year.

FRENCH OPEN 2007: Women's Final Preview

Justine Henin BEL (1) vs. Ana Ivanovic SRB (7).
The diminutive Belgian has won the last 31 sets of tennis she played at Roland Garros, stretching back to a 2005 round of 16 against Svetlana Kuznetsova where she saved two match points and won 7-5 in the third. Since then Henin has demolished everyone on clay, in fact the two finals she played in 2005 (Mary Pierce, 6-1, 6-1) and 2006 (Kuznetsova, 6-4, 6-4) were embarassingly one-sided affairs. It's unlikely Saturday's final will be similarly unwatchable, but the winner will be the same. Her opponent is Ana Ivanovic, the teenage Serbian phenom who demolished Maria Sharapova in the semifinals 6-1, 6-2. Henin beat another Serbian, Jelena Jankovic in straights sets 6-2, 6-2 in the other semifinal. Ivanovic also won a Tier 1 clay court tournament in Berlin a few weeks ago by defeating Kuznetsova in a third set tiebreaker. Ivanovic knows how to play on clay and has a powerful serve and even more powerful forehand but they will not be enough to stop Justine Henin from winning her 6th major championship, her 4th Roland Garros title.
PREDICTION: Henin in 2 sets.