The Chinese women's historic run here came to a rather anticlimactic end in the semifinals this afternoon. Li Na played well for stretches of her 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1) loss to Serena Williams, raising her level and going for her shots in the bigger moments. But though Li fought off two match points when serving at 4-5 in the second set and a third when serving at 5-6, she was overwhelmed in the second-set tiebreaker, which Serena closed out emphatically with an ace.

The second semifinal was never competitive, as Justine Henin dominated Zheng Jie to win 6-1, 6-0, in just 51 minutes. ("I never had a chance," a resigned Zheng said afterwards.) It was by far the fastest and easiest of the six victories Henin has collected here; even her 6-4, 6-3 dismissal of countrywoman Kirsten Flipkens took an hour and a quarter.

So now we have the A-list final many fans and pundits have been eyeing since Kim Clijsters' ignominious third-round exit. Serena has a 7-6 record against Henin, who a month and a half after their most recent meeting — a 6-2, 6-0 demolition by Williams in Miami in March 2008 — announced her abrupt retirement from tennis. (Henin said today that the Miami loss was not a contributing factor to her decision to retire, but a product of the fact that she was already considering it. "It was the proof to me that I was tired of [tennis] at that time.") But of those 13 previous meetings, none has come in the final round of a major. Williams and Henin are the world's two best players of the past decade, having to date amassed nearly four years (204 weeks) at No. 1 between them. They have made a combined 24 major singles finals and won a combined 51 hardcourt singles titles (26 for Henin, 25 for Serena). A Grand Slam title showdown feels overdue.

Beyond their obvious physical gifts, Serena and Henin are both remarkably tough competitors, capable of summoning their best tennis as the tensest times. I don't see Serena losing, as long as she serves reasonably well, but I'm curious how many of you think Henin's dream comeback run will continue in the final. (Please vote in the poll on the TENNIS.com homepage.) In the meantime, here are a couple of notes to consider in advance of Saturday's showdown:

The Fatigue Factor — Serena: Serena's had her right hamstring taped throughout the tournament (as a preventative measure, she says) and this week she's had tape around her left calf as well. She appeared to be hobbling at certain points early in her quarterfinal with Victoria Azarenka, but either she's not particularly hurt, or else she doesn't want to acknowledge that she's hurt by withdrawing from doubles. (Serena and Venus, the defending champions, are going for their fourth title here.) Regardless, it's been a long haul of double duty for Serena over the past 48 hours. Though she breezed through the first four rounds of her singles draw—the longest of those matches lasted just one hour, 21 minutes—she's put in a lot of time on court since then. She played her quarterfinal and semifinal, both two-plus-hour matches, on consecutive days with little rest: She played in the second women's match on Wednesday and the first women's match on Thursday. And she'll have played two doubles matches (today's semifinal and tomorrow's final) in between her semifinal and final in singles. Henin didn't have to play her quarterfinal and semi on back-to-back days, and she'll be resting up for the singles final Friday while Serena's playing doubles.

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The Fatigue Factor — Henin: All that doesn't necessarily mean that the single(s)-minded Henin will have the physical edge in the final. Her first four rounds of singles here were much more taxing than Serena's, as Elena Dementieva, Alisa Kleybanova and Yanina Wickmayer each gave the Belgian tough tests. Henin's total time on court in her first five matches was ten and a half hours, more than three hours more than it took Serena to get through to the semis. Yes, Henin had the luxury of a rest day in between her quarterfinal and semi. And certainly the fact that she doesn't have two doubles matches in between the semis and the final works to her advantage. But given that this is just her second tournament back, Henin may be having a tougher time recovering than she did in the 1.0 version of her career. Returning to the intensity of tournament play after a year and a half absence has been a shock to her system, a fact she alluded to on Thursday.

"It took me a lot of energy in the last few weeks to come back and play my first matches and face all of this again," she said. She later added, "But my body's fine, I think. I'm gonna give everything, of course."

History at Stake for Serena: If Williams adds the 2010 title to the ones she won in Melbourne in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009, she would become the first player to win five Australian Open crowns in the Open Era, breaking a mark she currently shares with Margaret Court, Yvonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. (That "most Aussie Open titles" distinction would be somewhat diluted by the fact that Court won 11 total singles titles, but only four in the Open Era.) More significant: With a win Saturday, Serena would tie Billie Jean King for sixth on the Grand Slam singles titles list with 12. She'd have five Aussie Open crowns to go with her single French title, three U.S. Open titles, and three Wimbledons. And she'd improve her record in Grand Slam finals to a phenomenal 12-3. But of those feats, moving up to sixth on the all-time Slams list would have the biggest magnitude for Williams, 28.

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History at Stake for Henin: With a win Saturday, Henin would become just the second woman in history to win a Grand Slam singles title as a wildcard. And remarkably, this would be the second consecutive major at which that phenomenon occurred; another Belgian, Kim Clijsters, was the first to accomplish the feat when she made her own return from retirement to win the U.S. Open last fall.

A win Saturday would give Henin, 27, her eighth career singles title and move her into a tie for tenth place on the all-time list. It would also improve her career record in Grand Slam finals to 8-4.

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