TENNIS NEWS:BELGIUM'S Justine Henin made a triumphant return to professional tennis with a 7-5 7-5 win over Russia's Nadia Petrova in the Brisbane International first round yesterday.
Playing her first official match in 20 months, the 27-year-old Henin showed she had lost none of her fighting qualities as she ground out a hard-fought victory.
Henin quit tennis in May 2008 after spending a combined 117 weeks at number one, winning seven majors, an Olympic gold medal and 41 WTA titles.
The 27-year-old Belgian said she might be fitter than she was 20 months ago, and certainly felt better emotionally after yesterday’s victory, which followed exhibition wins last month, including one over Petrova in Cairo.
She had been training for five months in preparation for the Australian Open, which starts on January 18th, and sent an ominous warning that she is deadly serious about getting back to the top. She won the title in 2004.
“I have been waiting for this moment for so long. I am so happy about what I did on the court,” she said.
“It’s only the beginning and I feel better today than I did when I retired, both emotionally and mentally.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long,” Henin said. “At the beginning, everything seemed very big: the stadium, all the people. I’m not used to it anymore.”
Petrova was impressed by her opponent: “Henin is playing better tennis than before she retired. It is good news that she is back,” said the Russian, who was seeded second but drew Henin after the seven-times grand slam winner was granted a wild card.
She will now play Kazakhstan’s Sesil Karatantcheva, who won a topsy-turvy encounter against home favourite Casey Dellacqua 6-2 0-6 7-6 (7/1).
Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic registered her first win in almost five months by beating Australia’s Jelena Dokic 7-5 1-6 6-3 on the Pat Rafter centre court but fifth seed Alisa Kleybanova lost 6-4 2-6 6-2 to fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Lucie Safarova, Timea Bacsinszky and Roberta Vinci were also victorious yesterday.
Ivanovic, who has slipped to 21st in the world rankings after failing to win a tournament in 2009, overcame a lapse of concentration in the second set to see off Dokic, who contributed to her own downfall with 11 double-faults.
Dokic has become the new darling of Australian tennis after riding a wave of public support and national sympathy to reach the quarter-finals of last year’s Australian Open.
The 26-year-old was unhappy with her loss to Ivanovic but still buoyed by the fact she was at least able to challenge.
“To come out and play three sets and still not to be satisfied with my game is a good sign,” Dokic said.
“A match like this will make me tougher and hopefully I can get a better draw in the next couple of weeks.”
There were no late surprises in the women’s draw with fourth seed Daniela Hantuchova and sixth seed Aleksandra Wozniak both advancing.
Wozniak cruised past Galina Voskoboeva 6-2 6-2, while Hantuchova edged out Ekaterina Ivanova 6-1 6-7 (5/7) 6-1.
Hungary’s Agnes Szavay is also through after beating Shuai Peng 5-7 6-4 6-2.
Defending men’s champion Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic beat Australian John Millman 6-4 6-0, while Frenchman Richard Gasquet buried some of his own demons by defeating Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-3 4-6 6-4.
“It is just good for me to play with nothing in the head,” he said. “It was important I could play relaxed.”
Gasquet is hoping to return to the top 10 following a controversial 2009 in which the Court of Arbitration for Sport finally cleared him of wrongdoing after he failed a drugs test in March.
Gasquet insisted he inadvertently took cocaine after kissing a woman in a Miami nightclub – a claim backed by CAS despite the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) demanding the player be banned.
Elsewhere in the men’s draw, seventh seed Jeremy Chardy went out at the first-round stage, beaten 6-4 6-4 by Colombia’s Alejandro Falla.
Chardy’s fellow Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra also lost, to Wayne Odesnik and Harel Levy respectively, but Marc Gicquel did go through thanks to a 6-3 6-1 thrashing of Philipp Petzschner.
Top seed Andy Roddick made smooth progress into the next round with a 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 defeat of Australian Peter Luczak, as did Radek Stepanek, who beat wild card John Millman for the loss of just four games.
Eighth seed Thomaz Bellucci survived a three-set tussle against experienced Argentinian Juan Ignacio Chela, winning 6-3 3-6 6-1.
Henin's grand slam titles
French Open - 2003
US Open - 2003
Australian Open - 2004
French Open - 2005
French Open - 2006
French Open - 2007
US Open - 2007
