Serena Williams put an end to Justine Henin's hopes of a Grand Slam title on her return from retirement with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win in the Australian Open final Saturday. Serena withstood a determined challenge from Henin before securing her fifth Australian Open title and 12th Grand Slam singles championship overall. Henin, who had most of the crowd support at Rod Laver Arena, couldn't match her fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters' feat of winning in her Grand Slam comeback tournament. Clijsters won last year's US Open on her return from a two-year retirement after getting married and having a baby. Serena won the last four games Saturday to clinch the final in just over two hours, falling on her back in celebration after match point before shaking hands with Henin at the net. “It's good to have her back, it's exciting,” Serena said of Henin. “She can definitely be No. 1, especially with our ranking system, if she keeps doing well.” Still, it was an impressive run by Henin. She lost in the final of the Brisbane International tournament to Clijsters two weeks ago. The unranked and unseeded Henin then beat four seeded players en route to the Australian Open final, including No. 5 and Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva in the second round. “It's been a very emotional two weeks for me,” said Henin, who put her hand on her heart as she thanked the crowd for support. “I thought it would never happen to me again. I'd like to congratulate Serena. She's a real champion.” Henin saved two break points to hold for 3-3 in a four-game run in the second set, winning 13 of the last 14 points in a dominant finish to the set. She maintained the superiority early in the deciding set, increasing that to 18 of 19 points before Serena held serve to level the third set at 1-1. Serena, with her right thigh and left knee heavily taped as it had been for much of the tournament, staged her own resurgence, breaking Henin in the next game to go up 2-1. Henin broke Serena's serve in the next game, but the American broke back in the next to go up 3-2, a lead she never relinquished. “I thought I was just giving it to her at that point,” Serena said. “I didn't want to go out like that. I literally said to myself, ‘I need to man up and start playing better.”'. Serena held her serve in the next game with a second-service ace to go up 4-2, then broke again in the next game to take her within a game of the title. The American holds an 8-6 lead in career meetings between the pair, including a 6-2, 6-0 win in Miami in 2008. At the time, it equaled the worst loss for a reigning No. 1, and Henin quit tennis two months later. Henin won the Australian Open title in 2004. She quit from the 2006 final with stomach problems while trailing Amelie Mauresmo 6-1, 2-0. Serena's 12th singles major matched American great Billie Jean King's career total. King was at the stadium Saturday night to take part in a pre-match ceremony to honor the 40-year anniversary of Margaret Court's four Grand Slam tournament wins in 1970. “Billie, we are tied,” Serena said. “So I've reached my goal.” Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova are Serena's next goal, with 18 majors each. “Honestly, I'm just doing what I can. I obviously enjoy playing in Melbourne, clearly,” Serena said. “I never thought I could catch up with Martina, because she's such an amazing champion.” The men's final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray will be held Sunday night, where Murray will attempt to become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a Grand Slam major. The Australian Open is Murray's 17th Grand Slam tournament, which is how many attempts Federer needed before winning for the first time at Wimbledon seven years ago against Mark Philippoussis. Murray was beaten 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 in the US Open final in 2008. Two years later, the now 22-year-old Murray thinks he knows how to end the 74-year drought. American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan won the men's doubles final beating Canada's Daniel Nestor and Serbia's Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3. It was their eighth Grand Slam title. An exhausted Laura Robson of Britain lost the Australian Open girls' final to Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova 6-1, 7-6 Saturday. The 16-year-old, who partnered Andy Murray to the Hopman Cup final before the year's first grand slam, had also reached the quarterfinals of the women's doubles main draw with Australia's Sally Peer.
