Sunday, Jan. 29, 2006

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

Amelie Mauresmo returns a shot to Justine Henin-Hardenne during the women's singles final at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Saturday. Mauresmo won her first Grand Slam title after Henin-Hardenne retired in the second set.

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.

It was the second consecutive match and third in the tournament that an opponent retired with illness or injury against Mauresmo.

Michaella Krajicek retired with heat stress in the third round and second-seeded Kim Clijsters retired after turning her ankle early in the third set of their semifinal on Thursday.

Mauresmo had the second-longest wait for her first major title in the Open era, taking 32 Grand Slam tournaments to win a final.

Jana Novotna won Wimbledon in her 45th major.

Henin-Hardenne, who has four Grand Slam singles titles and was on a 13-match winning streak at Melbourne Park, burst into tears when she reached a courtside chair after quitting.

Mauresmo spoke to her at the net, then walked back on court and waved both arms to the crowd, choking back tears of emotion.

The men's final is Sunday, with top-ranked Roger Federer -- who defeated Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 in Friday's semifinal -- set to face 20-year-old Marcos Baghdatis.

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