Justine Henin won her second Rogers Cup with a 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory over Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and revealed she almost didn't start in Sunday's final.
Henin was bothered by a sore right shoulder and the world No. 1 wasn't sure she would be able to play until a few hours before the match. She needed massage treatment after her semi-final and again on Sunday morning. Henin finally declared herself ready after hitting some balls at a morning practice session.
Tournament organizers produced a backup plan in the event Henin could not play. Third-ranked Jankovic would have won in a walkover but still would have played a fun match against Nadia Petrova of Russia, who lost to Henin in the quarter-finals.
PHOTO: AFP
Henin, who said her shoulder was fine after she got it warm, has a more complete game than Jankovic and she took advantage before a near-sellout crowd of 10,251 at the Rexall Center.
"It's important to win this kind of match," Henin said. "It gives you a lot of confidence and it [was] very emotional too. It was so intense and we could feel it on the court."
The game of the match came at 5-5 in the second set with the players going to deuce nine times before Henin eventually won it when Jankovic netted a forehand.
"It was one of the toughest games I've ever had," Henin said.
Jankovic had six break point opportunities in that game alone. After one Henin winner to get back to deuce, a stunned Jankovic smiled, dropped her racket and put both hands on top of her head.
Francesca Schiavone of Italy rallied from two breaks down in the final set to upset fifth-seeded Schnyder of Switzerland 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4 in the Pilot Pen first round on Sunday.
Schnyder was ahead 3-0 and two breaks in the third set, when Schiavone called out a trainer to massage her right shoulder.
The move upset Schnyder who said it "completely" disrupted her momentum.
"It was pretty ugly, I have to say," Schnyder said.
Schiavone said the muscles in that shoulder have been bothering her for about two weeks.
"I said to Patty, `Sorry for this,' but I couldn't serve," she said.
Schiavone came back and won the next four games and broke Schnyder on match point in the 10th game.
Schiavone, who won her first WTA title this year in Austria, said she was feeling better after the match, and did not expect the injury to hamper her play this week.
"It's not something that breaks, it's just muscle," she said. "It's calming down."
In the only other women's match, American Vania King ousted Italian Tathiana Garbin 6-4, 6-4.
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