Returned Henin continues her winning ways

TENNIS:JUSTINE HENIN continued her successful WTA Tour comeback with a straight-sets win over Sesil Karatantcheva at the Brisbane International yesterday.

The former world number one is playing in her first tournament since May 2008 after announcing last year she was coming out of retirement.

Having beaten second seed Nadia Petrova in her opening match, the Belgian was a little erratic but still eased past 20-year-old Karatantcheva 6-4 6-3 and will face Melinda Czink in the quarter-finals.

Lucie Safarova set up a last-eight meeting with top seed Kim Clijsters with a 6-3 6-1 victory over sixth seed Aleksandra Wozniak.

Fourth seed Daniela Hantuchova matched that score in dumping out Agnes Szavay, while Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova recovered from a set down to beat Roberta Vinci 1-6 6-4 6-1 and will next face third seed Ana Ivanovic.

In the men’s event, top seed Andy Roddick was given a stern test by home hope Carsten Ball before eventually prevailing 7-6 (7/0) 6-3. Ball created a set point on his opponent’s serve at 4-5 but could not take it and a one-sided tie-break ended his hopes.

Roddick is likely to face another stern test in the quarter-finals when he comes up against former top-10 star Richard Gasquet, who ended the hopes of Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden yesterday.

Gasquet, playing in his first tournament since having his drugs ban formally overturned last month, took an hour and 20 minutes to see off his opponent 6-3 6-4.

Second seed and defending champion Radek Stepanek survived a major scare before booking his spot in the quarter-finals. The Czech battled from a set down against Ukrainian qualifier Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr before winning a marathon three-setter 5-7 7-6 (7/4) 6-2.

Stepanek will now play Wayne Odesnik after the American defeated Alejandro Falla 6-7 (8/10) 6-2 6-1.

Third seed Gael Monfils and fourth seed Tomas Berdych made the last eight in contrasting fashions. Monfils battled for more than two hours to see off fellow Frenchman Florent Serra 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (7/5) 6-1, while Czech Berdych won through in less than half the time against Marcos Baghdatis.

The Cypriot is a fans’ favourite Down Under after reaching the Australian Open final in 2006 but he will want to forget this match after going down 6-0 6-1.

Eighth seed Thomaz Bellucci set up a quarter-final meeting with Berdych thanks to a 6-4 4-6 6-4 win over Israel’s Harel Levy.

American James Blake backed up his win over fifth seed Sam Querrey with another hard-fought three-set victory over Frenchman Marc Gicquel.

Blake saved three match points on his way to a 6-3 3-6 7-6 (10/8) victory in just over two hours.

In Perth, Britain are in the box seat to qualify for the Hopman Cup final from Group B after they defeated Germany before closest rivals Russia suffered a surprise defeat by Kazakhstan.

Britain, the number three seeds, recovered to claim a come-from-behind 2-1 win after 15-year-old Laura Robson lost the opening rubber to Sabine Lisicki 7-6 (7/5) 6-3.

Andy Murray took only 57 minutes to level the tie when he dispatched Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 6-1 before completing the comeback with a 6-3 6-2 win alongside his partner in the mixed doubles.

Britain are in control of the group as the only unbeaten team and victory in their final pool match against Russia tomorrow would send them through.

Russia know they need to win to go through, while hoping surprise package Kazakhstan do not defeat winless Germany 3-0 in a tie at the same time under the Burswood Dome.

Meanwhile, defending champion Marin Cilic secured his passage through to the quarter-finals of the Chennai Open in India but had to come from a set down to beat Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 6-4.

The Croatian second seed, ranked 14th in the world, had struggled to find his rhythm in the first set, losing it on a tie-break.

But Cilic fought back to claim the next two sets and win a match that stretched to two hours and 46 minutes, with the 21-year-old taking five of his 14 break points.

Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic claimed a comfortable straight-sets victory, the world number 38 easing to a 6-2 6-1 win over India’s Somdev Devvarman.

Devvarman was a surprise final opponent for Cilic last year but Tipsarevic ensured there would be no repeat. Tipsarevic will now meet Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker, who beat compatriot Robin Haase 6-3 6-4.