It was a familiar sight at Paris earlier today as Belgian Justine Henin once again lifted the trophy for her third consecutive French Open title. The top seed took advantage of a shaky first-time slam finalist in seventh seeded Ana Ivanovic to easily prevail in straight sets 6-2, 6-1- becoming the first woman to three-peat since Monica Seles (1990-92).

It was her sixth career Grand Slam title and moved her ahead of Martina Hingis and Venus Williams, trailing only Serena Williams’ eight among active players on the WTA Tour. Out of the six, four have come on her favorite surface at Roland Garros in familiar surroundings on Philippe Chatrier court including her first back in 2003.
For the 25 year-old clay court master, it was extra special due to having her family in attendance for the first time to watch her play splendid tennis to lift the trophy. Her mother passed away in 1994 and she just had recently reconnected with her stepfather and siblings. While her Dad watched on TV, Justine’s sister and two brothers watched from the stands and enjoyed the big moment.

Just how much did it mean to the champion? Here was her reaction:

“It has been a huge step in my life in the last few months, and I was glad I could give them this victory, because everyone suffered a lot from the situation in the last few years. And today, finally, we are united in this joy and we can share this moment, and it’s great. And I feel so happy that I can offer that to them.“ 

There’s nothing as meaningful in life as family. One can’t put a price on what it means. That’s why it’s very nice to see Henin able to reconvene with her’s and be able to celebrate such a special moment. It marked only the second time since 1937 that a woman had won three straight French Opens.

Though she eventually cruised to a routine victory much like her other three straight set finals before, it was a slow start. The 19 year-old Ivanovic broke her right away in the opening game and had a 40-Love lead for 2-0 but the resilient Henin climbed out of the hole to break back.

Able to keep more balls in play due to her superior speed and attacking Ivanovic’s serve (45 percent 1st serve) which wasn’t quite up to speed unlike a blowout semi win over Maria Sharapova, Henin was able to keep more balls in play during rallies. Henin made twice less unforced errors (13) compared to her opponent’s 26.

Ivanovic was overcome by the moment against the more experienced champion. It made for another quick day at the office for Henin, who became the first player to win four titles in Paris since the legendary Steffi Graf.

After Ivanovic held for only the second time during the match, she easily served out the championship, clinching it with a forehand volley winner before excitedly tossing her racket in the air and dropping to her knees.

By prevailing in straight sets, Henin made it an Open Era record 35 straight without dropping one.

The only thing left for her to do is complete the career Grand Slam by winning at Wimbledon next month on grass. Expect the top ranked player to get the usual challenges from past Wimbledon winners defending champion Amelie Mauresmo, Sharapova and the Williams sisters. We’ll see if she can make history.

Nadal Aims For 3-Peat While Federer Goes For History In Rematch: Meanwhile, the much anticipated men’s rematch between top seeded Roger Federer and back-to-back winner Rafael Nadal is set for tomorrow morning. It can be seen live at 9 ET/6 PT on NBC.

Nadal is aiming to become the first three-peat French Open champion since Bjorn Borg, who won four straight from 1978-81. Meanwhile, Federer is once again going for history as he attempts to become just the sixth man to complete a career Grand Slam. A year ago against Nadal, he stormed through the opening set only to see the Spaniard bounceback in style to win the next three sets to repeat on clay.

This match-up is as good as it gets. Federer might not have played crisply even though he beat Nikolai Davydenko in three sets to reach his slam record eighth consecutive final but the 10-time slam winner at least knows he can beat Nadal on the red surface- ending the No.2 ranked Rafa’s record 81-match win streak at Hamburg last month.

He also has won his last 27 matches in slams but the biggest question is can he get the best of Nadal three out of five sets on this surface to make history? That remains to be seen.
Rafa will bring a 7-4 head-to-head record including 5-1 on clay against Roger. It will be the third slam final meeting with the two splitting two four setters last year in Paris and London.

After straight setting top five riser Novak Djokovic in the semis, Nadal hasn’t dropped a set and will try to become the first French Open champion to not lose a set since Borg (1978-80).

Something has to give tomorrow. Make sure you tune in because it should be great!