Serena Williams ended Justine Henin’s fairytale run in Melbourne as she claimed a 6-4 3-6 6-2 win to successfully defend her Australian Open title.
The world number one was pushed all the way by the unseeded Belgian who was playing in just her 12th competitive match following her return from an 18-month retirement.
A see-saw encounter looked to be turning Henin’s way as she hit a purple patch to take the second set, but Williams responded in characteristic style.
The American proved just too powerful in the decider as she raised her level and closed out victory to claim a fifth win at the tournament.
The triumph means Williams has now notched up 12 Grand Slam titles, drawing level with the great Billie-Jean King.
Both players made a rather nervy start to the contest, but Williams fought off a couple of break points to hold serve after an error-strewn opening game that featured four deuces.
It was to end up proving a familiar story for Henin who converted only five of 16 break points in the match, ultimately costing her dear.
Williams survived break points in her next two service games, but in between broke her opponent to love to forge into a 4-1 lead.
But cheered on by the crowd, Henin fought her way back into the encounter and a flashing forehand winner finally saw her break the Williams serve to get back to 4-3.
Having held to love the Belgian looked to be getting up a head of steam, only for Williams to then reassume control.
At 5-4, she went on to force a break point on Henin’s delivery at 30-40 and, while she survived that one, Henin came up with two errors, the second a back-hand that clipped the net and dropped wide, to gift her opponent the set.
But it was the Belgian who made the first move in the second set, the 27-year-old breaking to love with a running back-hand winner to edge 2-1 ahead.
She could not confirm the break, though, and dumped a forehand into the net to allow Williams back on terms.
At 3-3 on Williams’ serve, Henin fought back from 30-0 down and clinched another break after a deuce and that signalled her best period of the match.
She went on to reel off 15 unanswered points to clinch the set with a second break and, having held to love in the opening game of the decider, appeared to cut the more composed figure.
But having stopped the rot and levelled at 1-1, Williams found new reserves and earned herself a break to pull 2-1 ahead as Henin netted a volley.
The topsy-turvy encounter quickly swung again as three inexplicable errors from the American allowed Henin another chance to break, which she did after pouncing on a weak second serve with a booming forehand.
However, that was as good as things got for Henin and after firing a forehand wide in her next service game to fall behind again, she quickly found herself 5-2 down as Williams came on strong to force a double-break.
With that insurance in hand, the number one seed crossed the finishing line in some style, racing 40-0 up with some powerful serves before ending the contest on her second match point with a raking cross-court backhand winner.
Sky Sports
