Clijsters beats Henin, wins Brisbane International

It was a dream final for the tournament organizers - two former #1 players from Belgium on the comeback trail dominated the rest of the field to set-up their 23rd career meeting. In the end, it was 2009 US Open champion Kim Clijsters who won, very slightly edging Justine Henin in a third set tie-break - the final score 63 46 76(6). Clijsters won on her fourth match point after failing to win 3 of the match points she earlier held at 6-3 in the third set tiebreak. It was Clijsters' 36th career victory.

Still, Henin will be heading into the first grand slam of the year at the Australian Open in Melbourne having performed very well in her first tournament in the WTA tour after retiring in May 2008. After the final, she immediately withdrew from Sydney International citing a strained upper left leg. Henin was drawn to meet world #1 Serena Williams had she advanced to the 2nd round. The Sydney draw features 9 of the top 10 players in the world and Henin has been earlier granted a wildcard to participate.

With the victory, Clijsters has now won two of five tournaments she has played since she started playing again in August 2009. She initially retired from the tour on May 2007. She won the US Open last September, her first grand slam and third tournament played. As the tournament top seed, Clijsters now gains 280 ranking points for winning this WTA International level tournament. Currently ranked at #18, this win should allow Clijsters to leapfrog past world #17 Francesca Schiavone and world #15 Na Li to be one of the top 16 seeds in the 2010 Australian Open. That would be significant because it would mean that Clijsters will not meet any of the top ranked players until the fourth round. She may still face Henin in the earlier rounds of the Australian Open because Henin is not seeded and will be the most dangerous player in the draw.

With her win over Henin, Clijsters now bridges the gap in their head-to-head record at 11 wins against 12 wins by her rival. She also stopped a 3-match losing streak against Henin. She lost all 3 of their 2006 matches - Clijsters last full year on tour before her retirement. She last beat Henin in straight sets in the final of the 2005 Toronto tournament.