AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Venus Williams wouldn't allow herself to lose.
Down a set and four games to Justine Henin in the final of the Bausch & Lomb Championships, the world's second-ranked women's tennis player rallied Sunday for a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) victory.
"It's very tough to close a top player out, very tough to close me out," Williams said after wiping out a 4-0 deficit in the second set and twice refusing to give in when Henin came within two points of winning.
"Back in the day, I lost a lot of matches like these. I guess about two years ago it came to a point where I was tired of losing. I was tired of heartbreak. I was tired, not that I didn't deserve it, of watching other people win when I was at the finish line."
The title was Williams' fourth this season, and 25th overall, boosting her career earnings past $9.8 million.
Henin flirted with victory twice, but she couldn't hold a 5-4 lead in the second set and faltered again after going up 5-3 in the third.
"I'm a little disappointed, but that's tennis," Henin said. "I'm only 19. I got nervous trying to finish the match. I have to work on that."
Williams won five straight points to go up 6-1 in the third-set tiebreaker. The second-seeded Henin fought off match point four times before smashing a forehand into the net to end the 2-hour, 24-minute match.
Williams, who earned $93,000 to increase this season's winnings to $501,673, is 4-0 in finals against Henin, including a three-set victory at Wimbledon last year.
She also beat Henin in the Australian Women's Hardcourt Championships in January and the Diamond Championships in February.
"She was impressive," said Henin, ranked ninth in the world. "She's a tough player, a great champion, and I have a lot of respect for her."
Williams, who's won 16 of the past 17 finals she's played, improved to 5-1 lifetime against Henin, whose only victory against Williams came in the only other match they played on clay.
That win came in the round of 16 at the 2001 German Open.
ESTORIL OPEN: At Oeiras, Portugal, David Nalbandian of Argentina and Magui Serna of Spain won their first titles, capturing the men's and women's finals at the Estoril Open.
Nalbandian downed Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 7-6 (5) to complete the European tour's first clay-court event of the season.
Serna, seeded fourth, used an attacking game to beat German qualifier Anca Barna 6-4, 6-2. Serna was playing in her fourth tour final. Barna, who beat top-seeded Angeles Montolio, was playing in her first tour final.
HASSAN II OPEN: At Casablanca, Morocco, Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco beat defending champion Guillermo Canas of Argentina 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the clay-court Grand Prix Hassan II Open.