Back to when… Clijsters triumphed in special final against Henin

Ahead of the upcoming edition, we look back at some winners from the distant and not so distant past. This time it is the turn of Kim Clijsters, who triumphed in 2003.

After losing the final against Justin Henin in 2001, Clijsters had another chance to crown herself queen of the Brabant grass two years later. Once again, she faced her Belgian compatriot on the other side of the net.

It became the 12th encounter – four of which were finals – between the two greats of Belgian tennis. Clijsters already had three tournament victories under her belt in 2003 when she arrived in ‘s-Hertogenbosch as the top seed. However, she never yet managed to beat her compatriot in a final match. The most recent was the Roland Garros final just before the grass tournament.

The first set was characterised by beautiful rallies and both players showed why they belonged to the absolute world top. Clijsters with hard hits from the baseline and stylist Henin with her variation could count on several ovations from the packed stands.

As the players were very evenly matched, the opening set had to be decided by a tiebreak. It was Henin who took the first game. Clijsters straightened her back and managed to break Henin early in the second set.

An innocent-looking slide by Henin resulted in a sore left wrist. The right-handed Walloon with the single-handed backhand tried to resist for a few more points, but knew Clijsters was too good to beat with less than 100 per cent fitness. And so, two weeks after her 20th birthday, Clijsters was allowed to hold up the trophy.

This victory at the Autotron ‘s-Hertogenbosch helped Clijsters secure first place in the world rankings two months later in August.

In total, Clijsters won 41 titles in her career, including the US Open three times and the Australian Open once.

Watch the summary of the final between Clijsters and Henin here.