Mauresmo wins first Grand Slam

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Amelie Mauresmo won her first Grand Slam title today, dominating Justine Henin-Hardenne before the Belgian retired in the second set of the Australian Open final because of stomach pain.

Mauresmo won the first set 6-1 and was leading 2-0 in the second when Henin-Hardenne walked to the net and told the chair umpire she could not continue.

It ended a frustrating, seven-year wait for Mauresmo, who lost the 1999 Australian Open final to Martina Hingis and had not reached another Grand Slam championship match since.

She broke Henin-Hardenne's serve twice in the first set, allowing the 23-year-old Belgian only seven points as she raced to a 5-0 lead.

Mauresmo broke serve and then held again to lead 2-0 in the second before Henin-Hardenne called for the trainer. She lost two more points before retiring.

On the men's side, top-ranked Roger Federer advanced 6-3, 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 to Sunday's championship match against 54th-ranked Nicolas Marcos Baghdatis.

He hit 39 winners and had 33 unforced errors -- 20 fewer than Kiefer, who was playing in the semis for the first time in 34 majors.

He remained composed despite acknowledging some pre-match anxiety about the prospect of getting so close, yet still being so far from a seventh Grand Slam singles title.

In the fourth game, Federer scrambled to retrieve a Kiefer drop shot, sprinting from the baseline, and punched a backhand around the net post for a clean winner. Kiefer watched it land, nodded and dropped serve to fall behind 3-1.

And there were frequent slice backhands that hit the court and spun off sideways, making Kiefer's life much more difficult.

Kiefer competed for two sets, but was outclassed in the third and fourth.

After a volatile five-setter against Sebastien Grosjean in the quarterfinals, when he tossed his racket over the net and was warned twice for using obscene language, Kiefer barely raised his voice, except for occasional disputed line calls.

"I tried to stay in the whole time, but I just couldn't make it. In the end, he was just too good," Kiefer said. "I lost to the best player in the world and he showed it in the big moments."

Federer is aiming for his third consecutive major after winning at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2005.

Federer won the Australian title in 2004 and was upset in the semis by eventual champion Marat Safin last year. Still, his conversion rate is good -- he's won six of the last 10 majors and reached the semifinals two other times.

He's 3-0 against Baghdatis, the 2003 junior world champion, including a win in Doha at the start of the month, where Federer successfully defended his title.

Federer has been as surprised as anyone by Baghdatis' run, saying it was rare for young players to jump straight into success on the pro tour.

"In two weeks he's improved incredibly," he said. "I think we're all surprised he got so far, because there's other very talented youngsters who I thought will make the break before him."

Earlier Friday, Yan Zi and Zheng Jie became the first Chinese players to win a Grand Slam title, beating Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3 in the women's doubles final.

Martina Hingis, returning from a three-year layoff, reached Sunday's mixed doubles final with India's Mahesh Bhupathi. They beat Stosur and fellow Australian Paul Hanley 6-3, 6-3 and will face sixth-seeded Daniel Nestor and Elena Likhotseva.