Justine Henin claims the French Open

Justine Henin has become the first woman in 15 years to win the French Open women's title three years in a row. In the final yesterday, Henin trashed Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2, extending her Open era record-winning streak at Roland Garros to 35 consecutive sets. The 65-minute match ended as Henin closed out the victory with a skillful forehand volley, then flipped her racket, buried her head in her hands, leaned on the net and exhaled. 19-year-old Ivanovic, who managed to beat the Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova (World No 2 and 3 respectively) en route to the final, held hopes of providing competition for Henin. The signs were encouraging initially, when she blasted a forehand winner down the line to open the final and broke Henin's serve when the Belgian double-faulted on break point. But as it turned out, that was the only time she led. Soon the unforced errors came in flurries. She got a little nervous and couldn't control her serve. Henin kept up the pressure in the second set with a vast repertoire that ranged from delicate backhands to overhead smashes. Ivanovic, who was playing her first Grand Slam final, was simply overpowered. With 6 Grand Slam crowns, Henin has surpassed Venus Williams and Martina Hingis, only trailing behind Serena Williams' eight among active women. She is also the first top-seeded woman to win the French Open since Steffi Graf in 1996. What amazing figures she has piled up as a result of her skill and determination!

Belgian Dynamo in 2007 French Open

The matches leading to the quarter-finals were very much a breeze for two-time defending champion and world No 1 Justine Henin. She was expecting a tough match for her quarter-finals against Serena Williams. However on Tuesday, the Belgian brushed Williams aside and advanced into the semi-finals with an easy 6-4, 6-3 victory. Henin kept Williams on the move with versatile shot-making. The American was powerless, as Henin extended her Open era record-winning streak at Roland Garros to 31 consecutive sets. Once again, Williams was less than gracious after a loss and refused to credit Henin. "All she had to do was show up," Williams said. "I just pretty much stood back and let her take advantage of me." "I was just making all the errors and just playing like a maniac." The Belgian felt otherwise and thought she did a good job in controlling the match. To say that Serena is a person with huge ego is an understatement. During the match she slammed her racket to the clay when she lost important points. Her post-match comments were as sour as ever!

In the semi-finals yesterday (Thursday), Henin demolished in form Jelena Jankovic with a 6-2, 6-2 victory. Such skill indeed! =) She prevented an all-Serbian final. Jankovic's compatriot, Serbian teen sensation Ana Ivanovic fared much better, beating error-plagued second seed Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-1. Ivanovic will now face Henin in the final. Go Henin!

PS: Jelena Jankovic looks really weird - almost creature-like.

AV Camp

AV Camp was relaxing and I have to say that I enjoyed it except the last part. We broke camp before lunch and they went to Hans River to eat but I couldn't join them because I had something on. Initially there was supposed to be a barbeque in the evening, but they scraped the idea since everyone was tired and the small manpower meant that we had to spend a long time cleaning up after the barbeque. But if I had my way I would have insisted they had the barbeque. I don't know, I just feel that a barbeque can really bond everyone together with all the interaction and teamwork. But anyway, the camp was still fun. Arghh! Need to rush off, don't have the time to write much.