Though it didn't end the way I wanted it to, the Rogers Cup final was fantastic, especially the second set, with Jelena Jankovic saving five match points in an eleven-deuce game that was as exciting a game of tennis as you'll see. But Henin won that game, and then went on to serve for, and win, the championship. In the first set, after a very tough battle, Henin ran away with the tiebreak. In both sets, she came from behind, as she so often does.
This makes Henin's record against Jankovic 7-0, with all but the 2007 French Open match being extremely close. The most memorable (and the one I wish I could forget) of their contests was last year's U.S. Open semifinal, when Jankovic was about to win the match, but went to pieces over an umpire's call that upset her. Henin, like the rest of us, noticed how fragile Jankovic was after the call, and then grabbed the match from her.
One does not generally think of two players with a 7-0 (or, from my personal viewpoint, 0-7) record as having a rivalry, but because the matches are so close, it seems to legitimate to call it one. I thought Jankovic would do it this time; she certainly played better today than she did against Tatiana Golovin yesterday.
Final score today: 7-6, 7-5
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