As if to underline her dominance at the top of the women’s game, Justine Henin completed a near perfect US Open performance, outplaying former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova to claim the seventh Grand Slam trophy of her career without even dropping set.

Although Kuznetsova may rise to second place on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings tomorrow, she was ultimately no more effective in stopping the Henin’s march to victory as the diminutive Belgian’s first round opponent, German qualifier Julia Georges. Now 12 months on from being forced to sit in courtside chair, suffering the pain of a third major final defeat of the year and watch Maria Sharpaova, Henin produced another show of merciless tennis to charge prevail 6-1,6-3.

Henin might find the brashness and bustle of New York abhorrent but apart from her nerves tightening close to the end when she delivered three double faults in one game, the champion was invariably several classes above her opponent who lifted the trophy in 2004. And she did it the hard way, becoming the first ever player to beat both Williams sisters in successive rounds before going on to dominate the final.

Admittedly Henin is at her most forceful on clay but such is the range and precision of her hitting power that she can perfectly translate her game onto the hard courts. Sensibly, considerning her history of health problems, she opted to play just one tournament since Wimbledon where the fatigue of competing again so quickly after another Roland Garros triumph took its’ toll.

It would not have been a proper Grand Slam tournament without Henin complaining about some ailment and she admitted to breathing problems during her semi-final win over Venus Williams. Yet as she cruised through the opening games, her body seemed to be functioning as perfectly as her game.

Though Kuznetsova was forced to accept second best in all but two of the pair’s previous 14 meetings, she was successful when they last met on the far slower clay of Berlin in May. Unfortunately the magnitude of the occasion seemed to almost debilitate the 22 year-old Russian from St. Petersburg who lost out comprehensively to Henin when they met in last year’s French final.

Three errors contributed to Kuznetsova sacrificing her serve in the opening game and sensing a potential of mental frailty across the net, Henin was intent of hitting hard with some forceful blows. Before the end of the second game Kuznetsova was picking herself up from the floor after the dominance of the Belgian caused her to stumble as she tried to turn into a backhand and the sight seemed to be a portent of what was to come.

The first set was a rapid and relatively uncompetitive half hour long affair and a feeling of being short changed seemed to spread amongst the sold-out 23,000 seater stadium.

Kuznetsova’s semi-final victory against fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze was widely criticised as one of the most inept matches at an advanced stage of an esteemed competition but this was altogether a different situation. Against Chakvetadze it was a question of who would make less horrendous mistakes but Henin was getting bolder by the rally and seemingly intent on securing victory as swiftly as possible.

Marginally more resistence was shown in the second set but regardless of her frail frame, Henin’s serve packed far more menace and accuracy. Under the guidance of coach Carlos Rodriguez she has developed it into one of the most effective weapons on the women’s tour and allied to her textbook ground strokes, the result was never in any doubt.

But as Henin celebrated, many of those congratulating her also had the health of Venus Williams paramount in their mind. The Wimbledon champion had been diagnosed with anaemia when she began to experience dizzy spells during a tournament in San Diego three weeks after her Wimbledon victory and the problem resurfaced as she succumbed to Henin in the semi-final.

Now Williams’ mother Oracene Price is insisting on an immediate series of extensive medical tests to be carried out at the revered Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “I guess the anaemia came back," said Price. "Venus feels like the ground is moving beneath her feet. Things aren’t right and we have got to find out what’s wrong. She’s going to the Mayo.”