Bethanie Mattek-Sands and John Isner have beaten the Bel gium team of Justine Henin and Ruben Bemelmans after the Americans won the doubles tie 6-1, 6-3. Mattek-Sands pushed Henin to 7-6, 6-3 and then John Isner replied with a 6-3 6-4 win over Bemelmans with 13 aces, and countless other huge serves to his name.
Bethanie was delighted to take home the diamond encrusted tennis ball trophy. ”It’s been an amazing week. It’s my first time in Perth and I’ve really enjoyed myself. It’s funny, I saw this actually when I first got here and I thought it was the best trophy in sports.”
The Belgian team were asked to step in after the Serbian team of Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic, who were looking dominant all tournament were forced to withdraw due to an injury. Ivanovic lost in straight sets to Justine Henin, hurting her abdominal muscles in the process. The injury was still bothering her at practice on Friday. The problem with abdominal injuries is that because the abdominal work so hard to create stability and power as well as transfer forces between the upper an lower body, even a 
tiny tear causes significant pain.
Ivanovic has withdrawn from the Sydney International.
”I’ve got to thank Bethanie; her back’s got to be hurting from carrying me all week. She was rock solid all week long. I kind of got a whooping yesterday (against Murray), but I regrouped and played very well today which is really, really encouraging. Also I want to say congrats to the Belgium team. It’s a great team we beat today.” – John Isner
