Mauresmo Crowned Women's Champion

In a shock conclusion to the 2006 Australian Open Women’s competition, Amelie Mauresmo has claimed the 2006 Australian Open Championship after her opponent Justine Henin-Hardenne was forced to retire.

The 2004 Australian Open champion was looking to increase her winning streak at Melbourne Park after withdrawing last year due to a knee injury. However, it was not meant to be when a stomach bug got the better of her twenty minutes into the second set.

Revealing her reasons for retiring during the after match presentation, a disappointed Henin-Hardenne congratulated Mauresmo, apologized profusely to the sympathetic crowd and vowed to return next year. Mauresmo, still in shock, was ecstatic to finally claim her first Grand slam championship. She thanked her family and friends as she proclaimed the victory to be “a long time coming.”

Mauresmo was playing in her first Grand slam Final since her 1999 Australian Open Final loss to Martina Hingis, in the hope of collecting her first ever Grand slam championship. The infamous loss in 1999 has been a monkey on 26 year old Mauresmo’s back, causing many to question her mental psyche ever since.

Mauresmo had a relatively easy lead up to the final, dropping only two sets on the road to the Final. Her quarter final clash with Patty Schnyder lasted 53 minutes and her semi final opponent, Kim Clijsters was forced to retire due to an ankle injury.

On the other hand, Belgian Henin-Hardenne was stretched to three sets by her quarter final opponent Lindsay Davenport and was also forced to come up against World number four Maria Sharapova in the semi finals.

Surprisingly it was Henin-Hardenne, the winner of four grand slam titles, who let her nerves get to her, surrendering the first game to Mauresmo. The Frenchwoman was determined to get the seven year monkey off her back and held her tough mindset to take an early 3-0 lead in the opening set. Uncharacteristic errors from the Belgian saw the lead stretch out to 5-0.

Number eight seed Henin-Hardenne then took advantage of a momentary lapse in concentration from Mauresmo to win one game. However after 33 minutes, number three seed Mauresmo claimed the set 6-1.

Mauresmo sustained her brilliant play to take the first two games of the second set. In a shock twist Henin-Hardenne then called for the trainer, showing no apparent signs of distress. No treatment was administered to any part of her body, but she did take some form of medication before resuming play. However, it was too much for the clearly broken 23 year old telling the umpire that she could no longer go on.

Showing incredible sportsmanship, Mauresmo consoled a shattered Henin-Hardenne before the presentation. It was a bittersweet moment for Mauresmo, who finally claimed her first ever Grand slam, but certainly not in the circumstances that she would have imagined.

The 2006 Australian Open Final may now help Mauresmo to erase the pain of the 1999 Australian Open and leaves Henin-Hardenne contemplating what could have been. The 2005 Roland Garros champion will also try to recover from the painful match and erase painful memories of her own.

It has been a truly extraordinary 2006 Australian Open for the Women’s singles competition with the early exits of Venus Williams and Mary Pierce as well as the surprising conclusion to the Final. After all the twists and turns, Amelie Mauresmo now joins the likes of Hingis, Navratilova and Graf as a deserving Australian Open champion.

It was a case of third time lucky for the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, as they clinched the Australian Open men’s doubles title after they finished runners-up here in 2004 and 2005.

The final was a three-set thriller played in front of a very appreciative crowd, with Czech Martin Damm and Indian Leander Paes pushing the top seeds all the way. The Bryans captured their third doubles Grand Slam title with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory.

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