Henin can keep her grip on the trophy.
JUSTINE A CLASS APART
By Andy Schooler
Click here for our match-betting tipping service
Sky Bet's Odds
Compare All Prices
Justine Henin may be odds-on to win this week's season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, but we're still more than happy to get involved with the Belgian.
Here's why.
Henin has been a class apart on the WTA Tour this season.
She's notched up a win-loss record of 58-4, has won a career-best nine titles and is already assured of ending the year as world number one.
And all this has been achieved despite missing the year's opening Grand Slam, the Australian Open, following a split from her husband.
Henin arrives here on the back of a 20-match winning run - her last loss was the shock Wimbledon semi-final defeat to Marion Bartoli in July - and does not hold a losing career record against any of the other seven players in this elite field.
She's also the defending champion here and so seems to have virtually every factor in her favour.
The pint-sized powerhouse has been placed in what is regarded as the tougher yellow group here - alongside Jelena Jankovic, Serena Williams and Anna Chakvetadze - but it's hard to see her failing to finish in the top two, thus securing a semi-final spot.
She's won both previous encounters against first opponent Chakvetadze in straight sets, so should get off to a flying start, while's she's also 8-0 against Jankovic.
The most trouble could come against Williams - one player who can challenge Henin in the mental toughness stakes.
They are 6-6 overall but Henin has won the last three meetings and all those matches came at this year's Grand Slams.
Henin is 5/6 to lift the trophy again which looks perfectly reasonable.
She's also 8/15 to win the group, but we're going to have a saver on Williams at 4/1.
Despite having already sung Henin's praises from the rooftops, there's sound reasoning behind this.
Henin was certainly the best player here last season but she didn't win her group, losing to Amelie Mauresmo in her final round-robin match after she had already qualified for the last four.
That's a scenario that could unfold again this year if, as expected, the Belgian wins her first two encounters.
That therefore makes the 4/1 about Williams clinching the top spot look good value.
The Australian Open champion played herself into some decent form during the European indoor season, reaching the last eight in Stuttgart and the final in Moscow.
She did pull out in Zurich citing a thigh problem, but insists she is "definitely fit" for her campaign here.
It's a tournament she's won before, albeit at a different venue, while she's also finished runner-up on her two other appearances, so there's no doubt she takes this event seriously.
Williams is one of the most competitive players on the circuit and should account for Jankovic, who admits to being "very tired", and Anna Chakvetadze, neither player having enjoyed a particularly good autumn campaign.
If there's one player here capable of taking out Henin, especially on this indoor hardcourt surface, it's Williams, so a small-stakes bet on her to take top spot looks worth the risk.
Meanwhile, the red group looks wide open with Svetlana Kuznetsova up against Ana Ivanovic, Maria Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova.
Sharapova, the 2004 champion, is certainly the biggest name and if she gets her game together it could be curtains for the others.
The relatively-fast surface favours her game but shoulder problems have undoubtedly hindered her famed serve this season and it's no coincidence that's she only picked up one WTA title in 2007.
The Russian is only competing because of Venus Williams' withdrawal and has played just one match (a defeat to Victoria Azarenka in Moscow) since the US Open.
Anyone looking to back the 'blonde bombshell' should probably see how she gets on in her opening match before doing so.
Kuznetsova has also had a shoulder injury recently which forced her out in Zurich, but she says the problem was "not that serious" and blamed it on playing too much tennis.
Fully rested, she starts a warm favourite for the group but has yet to progress to the knockout stage in two previous attempts at this showpiece event.
Ivanovic has beaten Kuznetsova and Sharapova twice each this season (and has not been beaten by them), but she suffered shock defeats in her last two events and isn't at her best when the going gets tough, as it will do here.
Therefore in a group that really could go any of four ways, we feel Hantuchova is a decent long shot at 15/2.
She's been the form player this autumn on the European indoor swing, winning in Linz (to book her spot here) and finishing runner-up in Luxembourg.
The Slovak is 15-5 since the US Open and although the opposition gets tougher here, her confidence is sure to be sky high.
Admittedly Hantuchova doesn't have the best head-to-head stats in the pool, but in a group which looks unlikely to produce a winner with a perfect 3-0 record, we feel 15/2 is too big.
The action gets under way at 1700 GMT on Tuesday and is being screened live in the UK by British Eurosport.
Preview posted at 1300GMT on 05/11/2007.
