No. 1 Ranking Race Heats Up as Justine Henin Wins Qatar Total Open
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Mar 3, 2007 | Print
| 
Maria Sharapova had better look out - Justine Henin is the hottest player on the WTA Tour and has a shot at recapturing the number one ranking.
Henin, who probably would still be the No. 1 player in the world if she had not opted out of the trip to Australia, has just completed the “Gulf Double”, back to back titles at the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open and this week’s Qatar Total Open.
She cruised past Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 7-5 last Saturday at Dubai, and she needed just eighty minutes to conquer second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2 this afternoon in Doha. This was the first time in five years that a non-Russian woman took home the trophy.
Justine is planning on skipping next week’s Pacific Life Open to rest up for the mandatory Sony Ericsson Open later this month, and her decision will cost her some on the rankings.
She reached the semifinals for 146 ranking points before losing to Elena Dementieva last year, but current world number one Maria Sharapova is defending over twice as many points because she won the trophy.
Henin has the advantage over Sharapova in the next several weeks not only because she grabbed 275 ranking points for her title today at Doha, but she lost in her first match at Miami last season, leaving her just 1 point to defend compared to Sharapova’s 256 finalist points.
With the clay court season rapidly approaching, Sharapova needs to perform well over the next four weeks in the United States because when it comes to clay, Justine Henin is the undisputed queen.
Sharapova is still working on crafting a solid clay court game, and once the Tour heads into Europe for the final stretch before Roland Garros, we just may see a new world number one player on top of the Tour rankings.
If any of you are interested, Justine’s official website has a guestbook for congratulatory messages on her victory. You can leave your personal note here.
If you enjoyed this tennis article, please sign up for a free subscription!
Dina | Mar 4, 2007 | Reply
I think that there is a 51% chance that Henin will defeat Maria in their next match, personally I think because Maria has not been working hard lately and Henin has been playing more matches recently. I think that in order for Maria to win- she needs to get back on her game.
Brant | Mar 4, 2007 | Reply
51%… haha that’s close!