Serena happy to face Henin in Madrid MADRID, Spain -- Serena Williams looked at her draw for the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships and was pleased to see top-ranked Justine Henin in her difficult group. Williams has lost three straight matches against Henin since she beat the Belgian star to win the Miami Masters title in April. Henin knocked Williams out of the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open at the quarterfinal stage every time. "I was happy to see that I was in her half, because I feel like it would be fun to play her again and she's the No. 1 player, so it'd be cool," Williams said Sunday. Williams, the only American player in the field, Henin, No. 3 Jelena Jankovic and Russia's Anna Chakvetadze are in the tough yellow group. The top two after round-robin play advance to Saturday's semifinals at the $3 million season-ending tournament. "Everyone out on that list hits pretty hard," the 26-year-old Williams said. "I guess I have to hold it down for USA." The last time she played in the event featuring the season's top eight singles players was in 2004, when she fell to Maria Sharapova in the final. Sharapova became the second player -- after Williams -- to win the event in her debut. Williams, the 2001 winner, is back in the championships after jumping from 140 in the WTA rankings to her current No. 5 this season, picking up her eighth Grand Slam title along the way. "I don't know if I've done well to be here. I feel like I should be here," said Williams, who won the Australian Open in January. "It's just different because I started out the year so low with a lot of people not believing 100 percent in my ability to compete, so for me it was kind of like a great victory for me to qualify." Though Williams hasn't played since retiring from the Zurich Open two weeks ago with a sore thigh, the injury shouldn't be a problem in Madrid. "I'm definitely really fit and really happy," she said. "I was on my way to glory and I ran into a little bad luck." Second-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova leads the red group, which also features French Open finalist Ana Ivanovic, Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova. Play begins at the Madrid Arena on Tuesday. http://tennis.com/news/news.aspx?id=107770