Justine Henin may well be back in full form after 15 months away from the tennis circuit. She is showing she still knows how to play as she works her way through the draw in the 2010 WTA Brisbane International tournament going on Jan. 4-10, 2010 in Brisbane, Australia.
Coming into the tournament unseeded, she faced a good challenge with the No. 2 seed, Nadia Petrova of Russia in the first round. Henin prevailed in a close match, 7-5, 7-5. She then took on unseeded 20 year-old Sesil Karatancheva of Bulgaria who had a two-year suspension for using drugs in 2005. Henin took her out 6-4, 6-3. In the Quarterfinals, Henin defeated 7th seed, Melinda Czink of Hungary in a very close 3-set match, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).
Henin will now take on 3rd seed Ana Ivanovic in the Semifinals. Ivanovic has not had an easy time through her draw, playing two 3-setters and a close tie-break in the Quarterfinals. Ivanovic defeated Jelena Dokic of Croatia in a see-saw match, 7-5, 1-6, 6-3, Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland in another up-and-down match, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. In her Quarterfinal match, Ivanovic defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).
So, judging from the results of the first round matches, I would give Henin the edge over Ivanovic in the Semifinals. Henin has pulled through against some tough opponents while Ivanovic has struggled with her easier opponents.
On the other side of the draw, the other comeback kid, Kim Clijsters of Belgium cruised through the first two rounds with easy wins over Tathiana Garbin and Alicia Molik The Quarterfinal match against Lucie Safarova went 3 sets with Clijsters winning 6-1, 0-6, 6-4. In the Semifinal Clijsters faces unseeded Andrea Petkovic of Bosnia.
The Finals could well pit the two comeback kids against each other. A Clijsters versus Henin match would be an interesting match in which I would favor Clijsters. Clijsters has been back longer and should be more tournament-tough than Henin. At any rate, this has been a good warm-up to the first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, scheduled to begin January 18.
Tighten your seatbelts, folks. The tennis season is under way!
