Justine Henin had barely finished off her first win since coming out of retirement when talk of her winning an eighth Grand Slam singles title began in earnest yesterday.
Henin beat second-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia 7-5, 7-5 in the first round of the Brisbane International, her first official tour match since announcing her comeback in September.
Petrova said Henin was a better, more aggressive player than she was when she quit the tour in May 2008 and had no doubt the 27-year-old Belgian could win another Grand Slam title.
PHOTO: EPA
“That’s why she’s back. She’s hungry to win Wimbledon,” Petrova said before Henin attended her first post-match news conference in 20 months. “The changes she’s done in her game is actually leading toward that.”
Henin spent a combined 117 weeks at No. 1 in the rankings, winning seven majors, an Olympic gold medal and 41 WTA titles.
“I feel better today than when I retired, that’s for sure,” Henin said. “Better emotionally, mentally, better with myself — and that makes a big difference that I will enjoy being on the tour again.”
Ana Ivanovic won her first match since September, while No. 4 Daniela Hantuchova and No. 6 Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada also advanced. No. 5 Alisa Kleybanova lost to fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Third-seeded Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion, won the last three games to finish off a 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 win over Australian Jelena Dokic 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.
Top-seeded Andy Roddick beat Australia’s Peter Luczak 7-6 (5), 6-2 in a night match, his first since withdrawing at Shanghai with a knee injury in October.
Defending men’s champion Radek Stepanek won in straight sets, and Richard Gasquet beat Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in his first match since the Court of Arbitration for Sport last month rejected an appeal from the World Anti-Doping Agency against the Frenchman being cleared of wrongdoing after traces of cocaine were discovered in a March drug test.
■HOPMAN CUP
AP, PERTH,AUSTRALIA
Britain’s Andy Murray beat Andrey Golubev 6-2, 6-2 yesterday to level the Hopman Cup match with Kazakhstan at 1-1.
Earlier, Yaroslava Shvedova beat 15-year-old Laura Robson 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 to give Kazakhstan a 1-0 lead.
Murray, who won when Golubev double-faulted on match point, and Robson were to play Shvedova and Golubev in mixed doubles to decide the opening match for both teams at the eight-country tournament being played indoors at the Burswood Dome.
In the earlier match, Igor Andreev and Elena Dementieva won the deciding mixed doubles to give Russia a 2-1 victory over Germany.
Andreev and Dementieva beat Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 7-6 (7).
Andreev beat Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3 to level the match after Lisicki beat Dementieva 6-4, 6-1 to give Germany an early 1-0 lead.
The US takes on Australia and Spain plays Romania today.
■ASB CLASSIC
AP, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer made a winning return to the WTA Tour yesterday after her ban for anti-doping violations was lifted, beating Germany’s Julia Goerges 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of the ASB Classic.
Wickmayer entered the Auckland tournament on a wild card and is the No. 3 seed.
Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy started the season with a 6-2, 6-4 win over US veteran Jill Craybas.
Former world No. 4 Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, who is playing in Auckland as a wild card, beat former No. 5 Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 6-1, 6-2.
Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, who was sidelined for the second half of 2009 with a rib injury and is unseeded on her ranking of 28, beat Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 6-0, 6-3.
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with
A soccer jersey carrying a national map including disputed Western Sahara has become a hot commodity in Morocco after a diplomatic dispute with Algeria. Retailers said RS Berkane jerseys have been flying off the shelves after a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup match against Algerian club USM Alger was canceled last month over the jerseys. “We are overwhelmed by the influx of messages and requests,” said Brahim Rabii, representative of the official RS Berkane jersey distributor. Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, partly over the issue of Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco, but claimed
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang