MELBOURNE, Australia — Justine Henin advanced to the Australian Open final in her first Grand Slam tournament in two years, beating China’s Zheng Jie 6-1, 6-0 today in 51 minutes.
Henin, returning to the tour after a 20-month retirement, last played in a major at the 2008 Australian Open, where she lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Maria Sharapova.
Henin, 27, will play Serena Williams in Saturday night’s final. Williams, who has four Australian Open titles, has never lost a championship match at Melbourne Park.
With numerous Chinese flags draped in the stands at the start of the day at Rod Laver Arena, Williams ended the hopes of an all-Chinese final when she beat Zheng’s compatriot Li Na in the first semifinal.
Williams, the defending champion, wasted four match points before finishing off a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1) victory with an ace.
“I had so many match points and I blew it and I knew I couldn’t mess up my serve because she never gives up,” Williams said. “She’s a real, real amazing fighter.”
Williams broke Li’s service in the opening game and maintained the break until the 10th game. Li fended off a set point in the ninth game before holding, then broke Williams’ serve in the 10th game to even the match at 5-5.
In the tiebreaker, Williams picked up four of her last five points on unforced errors by Li and then clinched the 58-minute set with a second-service ace.
The second set went with serve, with Li fending off three match points in the 10th game and another in the 12th to force a second tiebreaker. Again, Williams dominated the tiebreaker to race to a 6-1 lead, closing with her 12th ace of the match.
In the men’s draw, No. 5 Andy Murray and No. 14 Marin Cilic will meet in a semifinal tonight.
With Jo-Wilfried Tsonga taking out No. 3 Novak Djokovic 7-6 (8), 6-7 (5), 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 Wednesday night, there was nobody left in the draw who has beaten Roger Federer in a major.
Murray was leading defending champion Rafael Nadal by two sets and a break when the Spaniard retired because of a knee injury; Cilic beat U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in five sets.
Federer advanced to his 23rd consecutive Grand Slam semifinal with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5 win over No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko.
