TENNIS in DEPTH.

Justine Henin is one step away from completing a fairytale return from retirement after she won through to the Australian Open final with a straight-sets win over Zheng Jie.

The 27-year-old raced to a 6-1 6-0 win in just 51 minutes to book a final meeting with defending champion and world number one Serena Williams on Saturday night.

It was a hugely disappointing end to Zheng’s tournament after her countrywoman Li Na was also eliminated in her semi-final clash with Williams.

Henin is playing just her second tournament following a 20-month retirement and is on course to replicate fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters’ remarkable return when she won the US Open after coming back from retirement and becoming a mother.

Henin’s win was the most routine of her difficult run to the final so far that has seen her overcome world number five Elena Dementieva, Yanina Wickmayer (16) and Nadia Petrova (19).

After Zheng held serve in the opening game Henin, who won at Melbourne Park in 2004, strung the next 12 games together to dominate her unseeded rival.

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Melanie Oudin will lead the United States against host France in a Fed Cup quarterfinal matchup next week.

The 18-year-old Oudin will be joined on the U.S. squad by Bethanie Mattek- Sands, Shenay Perry and 33-year-old world No. 1 doubles player Liezel Huber. Oudin and Huber were part of last year’s American team that reached the Fed Cup final, but lost to Italy.

“After reaching the Fed Cup final in 2009, I know the team is committed to working hard again this year, starting next weekend in France,” said U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez.

The U.S. and France will play the best-of-five tie on red clay at Stade Couvert Regional in Lievin from February 6-7.

The 17-time champion Americans are a lopsided 10-1 all-time against France in Fed Cup competition, but lost the last meeting between the two countries in the 2003 final.

Team USA hasn’t captured the Cup since 2000.

The French team will consist of Alize Cornet, Julie Coin, Pauline Parmenter and Stephanie Cohen-Aloro.

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Rafael Nadal may be gone from the men’s event but his influence lives on in the juniors in the presence of Australian Ben Mitchell, who took out the top seed and world No.1 Daniel Berta of Sweden 62 61 on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals.

The 17-year-old practised twice with Nadal in the build-up to the boys’ event and the effects were clear to see as Mitchell destroyed the hopes of Berta in stunning fashion. “I didn’t expect it to be that easy,” Mitchell said. “But I was very solid out there and moving well and just making him make too many mistakes.”

Mitchell was roped in by Nadal last weekend to help him prepare for his singles matches, something that came as a big surprise to the Australian. “My coach knows I get quite nervous so he only told me two minutes before we got on the court,” Mitchell said. “Hitting with Nadal I was kind of beyond nervous. But knowing I can keep up with Rafa, going toe to toe, gave me a huge confidence boost. I was thinking if I can keep up with Nadal then surely I can rally with anyone in the juniors.”

Mitchell said it was hard to explain just how much power and spin Nadal could produce. “I was hitting the ball straight to him and he was pretty much running me ragged,” he said. “I wanted him to give me the drinks signal, but it didn’t happen for about half an hour. He was quite nice. The second time we hit, he said hello, how are you and he said good luck for the tournament.”

Third seed Jason Kubler suffered a surprise defeat to Sean Berman, going down 64 62. Kubler had been one of the favourites to win here but was outplayed by Berman, who at 17 is one year older than Kubler.

For the second match in a row, French second seed Gianni Mina came from a set down to advance, beating Arthur De Greef of Belgium 36 61 60. Mina now plays another Australian, James Duckworth, who edged out Britain’s Oliver Golding 76(6) 75.

In the girls’ event, top seed Timea Babos of Hungary survived a test before beating Anna Arina Marenko of Russia 64 67(2) 61 to reach the last eight. “It was tough, she played really good,” Babos said. “I was playing really good as well, I’d give myself 75 percent which is usually enough, but today she played really well as well.”

Babos, who trains at the Gosling academy just outside London, said she was not feeling any added pressure from being the No.1 seed. “That’s the first time I’ve been top seed both in singles and doubles,” she said. “I really enjoy it. Some people think it’s pressure but I think it’s even a little advantage because everyone is thinking that they have to play well because they’re playing the top seed.”

Babos now plays Czech qualifier Kristyna Pliskova but in the semifinals, she could yet play former junior Wimbledon champion Laura Robson, who cruised into the last eight with a 63 63 win over Cristina Dinu of Romania.

“I don’t really look at the draw. I’m not thinking, oh, semifinals it could be Laura Robson, because there are so many good players here with no ranking even,” she said.

Third seed Daria Gavrilova of Russia recovered from a slow start to beat Grace Sari Ysidora of Indonesia 26 62 63, while sixth seed Karolina Pliskova, the sister of Kristyna, also went through with a 61 64 win over Risa Ozaki of Japan.

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After splitting two close tie-breaker sets, Novak Djokovic looked to finding his way into the semi final as he dominated the third set 6-1. He rested between sets and consumed an energy bar, drank some electrolytic fluids, followed by copious amounts of water, when the colour visible drained from his face. He was pale and obviously on the verge of regurgitating all or some of his ‘snack’, but took to the court to try to compete. He rushed to the bathroom for a medical time out after a couple of games but never regained his form. He lost the next two sets 6-3, 6-1. Tsonga will move into the semi final against Roger Federer.

The match highlighted the defensive skills of both players, but had it not been for Djokovic’s stomach issue it was evident that he was the superior player on the court.

Federer must be grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of meeting Tsonga instead of Djokovic.

The world No.3, who also retired from his quarter-final against Andy Roddick last year, had been in line to claim the world No.1 spot had results gone his way in Melbourne.

A second Australian Open title, twinned with defeat for Roger Federer ahead of the semi-finals, would have seen him reach the summit of the men’s rankings on Monday.

Instead, the Serb could only try and delay the inevitable in the closing stages as Tsonga powered past him and into the final four.

“It’s going to be tough because he’s the best player ever,” said Tsonga on the prospect of playing Federer, who he has beaten in one of their two previous meetings.

“I was in good shape,” said the Frenchman when asked how he felt physically. “Maybe a little bit better than him [Djokovic]!”

Asked about whether he had been aware of Djokovic’s state of health, he added: “I saw he was not very good, but sometimes, you know, he do that and he win.”

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Serena Williams came back from the brink to beat Victoria Azarenka and reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

The top seed came from a set and 4-0 down to post a 4-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-2 win on the Rod Laver Arena.

She will now face China’s Li Na, who had earlier ousted her sister Venus.

Renowned for her fighting spirit, Serena had to dig deep once again in Melbourne as Azarenka made a flying start.

Williams had not lost a single service game in the tournament but was broken in four of her opening seven service games as the seventh seed stole away for what looked like a match-winning lead.

Williams’ serve slowly improved, however, and she started to match Azarenka’s heavy hitting to drag herself back into the contest.

With the finish line in sight in that second set for Azarenka, Williams launched her fightback, winning five straight games.

Azarenka was able to force a tie-break and in it led 3-1.

However, Williams duly found her ‘A’ game, a brilliant forehand winner and a nerveless smash seeing her turn the breaker around.

She clinched it when her Belarusian opponent netted a backhand and having levelled the match there was only going to be one winner after that.

From 0-1 in the decider, Williams again rattled off five games in a row which all but sealed victory.

Williams, who famously won the title in Melbourne in 2003 having been match point down in the semi-finals, said afterwards she was “surprised” to have survived.

“I didn’t expect to win when I was down 0-4,” she admitted.

“I was actually thinking ‘if I lose today and I lose in doubles I think I can catch a flight on Friday’. That’s not what a champion is supposed to think, but that’s what I was thinking.”

”I’m just happy to still be here.”

Williams added: “I wasn’t playing my best, especially in the first two sets. I definitely think I played well in the third.

“I was down the whole match from the first point until the end. So I was surprised. I was definitely shocked to win.”

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Roger Federer staged a remarkable turnaround to beat Nikolay Davydenko at the Australian Open and reach his 23rd successive Grand Slam semi-final.

The top seed looked in big trouble when Davydenko held a point for a double-break lead in the second set having taken the opener.

But Federer fought back from that perilous position to record a 2-6 6-3 6-0 7-5 win.

“I’ve played him many times and I know he goes through phases although they weren’t a notch on what he did in that first set.” Federer said.

“I just tried to stay positive. I wasn’t playing bad but he was just playing so well.

“It was obviously a bit of a surprise to come back that great because obviously he has been on an incredible run.”

Davydenko, the form player on the ATP World Tour, started like a train and raced through the opening set as Federer struggled with his game, making 17 unforced errors – he later revealed the setting sun had caused him problems and that he used a toilet break after the set in a bid to change the momentum.

However, the Russian continued his onslaught at the start of the set two but when leading 3-1 missed a great chance to move a double-break up.

Instead Federer held serve and that proved the turning point.

A forehand winner saw him break Davydenko’s serve for the first time in the following game, sparking a remarkable run of 13 straight games for Swiss.

By the time the sixth seed halted that streak he trailed two sets to one and was a break down in the fourth.

To his credit, Davydenko broke back to get the set back on serve and did so for a second time when Federer served for the match at 5-4.

A string of superb returns enabled Davydenko to save a match point in that game, but Federer refocused and simply broke serve again to lead 6-5.

This time he served out to book a semi-final meeting with either Novak Djokovic or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

“I was having problems with the sun in my eyes also in the opening set,” Federer added.

“I was waiting for it to move. I never use my toilet breaks so I thought I will use it and I hoped that maybe in that time the sun would move maybe one centimetre, maybe three.

“It might have been one point that it affected, but maybe that is important in the end.”

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China’s Li Na has beaten Venus Williams 2-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 in a marathon, mistake-ridden quarterfinal at the Australian Open featuring 110 unforced errors.

Williams served for the match in the second set against Li but was broken, forcing the set to the tiebreaker which Li dominated. Williams held service in the first game of the third set and Li in the eighth, but in between there were six consecutive breaks of serve – and eight in the first 10.

Li broke Williams’ serve again in the 11th game of the decider, then held to win on her third match point in 2 hours, 47 minutes. Li made 57 unforced errors in the match, Williams 53.

“Best day of my whole life,” Li said on court. “I just played my tennis. I know I lost the first set but thanks for the coach, never give up.”

Li and Zheng Jie have became the first Chinese players to advance to the semifinals of the same Grand Slam tournament. Zheng plays Justine Henin on Thursday.

“Good for both players, also good for China’s tennis,” Li said.

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Today’s quarter final match will feature two of the ‘elder’ statesman of modern day tennis. Both Federer and Davydenko have been around for a while, and while Roger is always in form, Nikolay has only found his best form in the past few months. He was a dismal 13-1 against Federer until November, but since then he has won both their recent meetings. Can he do it again, or will Federer elevate his game to another level, the level he reserves for the Grand Slams?

Both of their better halves will be in the players box watching, and I wonder if they ever talk to one another. Not about tennis! About babies of course!

If I was writing the script for the 2010 Australian Open, I would have Davydenko and Murray meeting in the final. Two players seeking their first Grand Slam title, and maybe in Davydenko’s case, his last chance! A win for the balding Russian would be a fairy tale ending to this years tournament.

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