Henin-Hardenne retains French Open title

Tennis : Justine Henin-Hardenne won her third French Open title when she defeated Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-…

Tennis: Justine Henin-Hardenne won her third French Open title when she defeated Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 6-4.

The Belgian fifth seed, who also won the tournament in 2003 and 2005, joins Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles as the only women to have won back-to-back titles at the claycourt grand slam in the professional era.

She also becomes the first player since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1994 to win the crown without dropping a set. She broke twice to pocket the opening set when Kuznetsova netted a forehand after 50 minutes.

The 2004 US Open champion rose to the challenge in the second, breaking in the second game only for Henin-Hardenne to break back immediately.

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The Belgian gained the decisive break in the seventh with a smash and ended Kuznetsova's challenge with a service winner on her second match point after 96 minutes.