Kuznetsova and Henin will renew their 'rivalry' - one that Henin has completely dominated.
Justine Henin and Svetlana Kuznetsova are both into the third round at the 2011 Australian Open and they will meet in a Thursday match that sees the two former Grand Slam champions go head to head. The odds on favorite to win has to be considered Henin as two historical trends suggest.
Firstly, the Australian Open is Kuznetsova's worst Grand Slam event as she has just two quarterfinal appearances in the tournament. Henin, on the other hand, plays much better at Melbourne Park as she has won the event outright before and last season she made the championship final.
But secondly and perhaps more importantly, Kuznetsova matches up terribly against Henin. They have met in WTA recognized matches a total of 18 times and Kuznetsova has just 2 wins in their history. One of those two wins came on a hard court surface but a 2-16 heads up record is like Andy Roddick versus Roger Federer and Kuznetsova can't be feeling great about her chances on Thursday.
The winner of the match will likely face Francesca Schiavone in a tough round of 16 match. Schiavone is not through to the 4th round yet but she has a favorable match against Monica Niculescu coming up.
