Shaking off the rust, Justine Henin was able to find her winning form late in the second set to dispatch No. 2 seed Nadia Petrova 7-5, 7-5 in the first round of the Brisbane International.
Both players started off slow with Henin only serving 28% percent in the first set. However Petrova’s forehand caused her problems throughout as Henin was able to break to go up 6-5 and then take the opening set.
Petrova did right herself by breaking early and going up 2-0 in the second set. But Henin broke right back and gained more confidence while Petrova’s error count continued along with her frustration at not making the most of break points at 3-3. Henin was able to break Petrova again at 6-5 and easily served out the second set 7-5.
The Brisbane crowd greeted Henin’s win with a standing ovation and even Petrova herself smiled at the warm reception.
In other match play, Ana Ivanovic defeated local favorite Jelena Dokic 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 while on the men’s side Richard Gasquet defeated Jarko Nieminen 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
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