Ivanovic beats Dokic, advances to 2nd round in Brisbane International

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Ivanovic advances at Brisbane International

BRISBANE, Australia — Justine Henin couldn’t even reached her first post-match news conference since coming back from retirement before the talk of her winning an eighth Grand Slam singles title began in earnest.

Henin beat second-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia 7-5, 7-5 on Monday in the first round of the Brisbane International, the former No. 1’s first official tour match since announcing her comeback in September.

“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.”

Henin quit in May 2008 after having spent a combined 117 weeks at No. 1, winning seven majors, an Olympic gold medal and 41 WTA titles.

Petrova said Henin was in better form than when she prematurely quit the tour and had no doubt the 27-year-old Belgian could win another Grand Slam title.

Henin said she might be fitter than she was 20 months ago, and certainly felt better emotionally after Monday’s victory, which followed exhibition wins last month, including one over Petrova in Cairo.

“It’s a big step, my first match. 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. … Everything went well. I have a lot to work on, but for a first match, a first tough round, I can be really positive today.”

Henin said it only took three or four games to settle back into the rhythm.

“Mentally, I was able to play my best when the score was tight at the end of both sets,” she said. “I really enjoyed being out there — that’s what I’m going to remember today.”

Being more aggressive on her serve has been a priority for the diminutive Belgian, who knows she needs to earn more easy points against the bigger women on the tour to remain competitive.

“I worked very hard and changed a few things in my game,” she said. “I think physically, if I want to stay on tour for a few more years I have no choice (but) to be more aggressive.”

Henin is playing in Brisbane this week and Sydney next week on wild-card entries as she prepares for the Australian Open, her first major in two years.

She played a consistent game, despite dropping serve to open the second set, and took advantage as Petrova’s forehand errors piled up.

After sprinting to the net and producing a deep, winning lob in the eighth game of the second set, she yelled “Allez” and pumped her fist in her trademark way.

She will next play qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan, who beat Australia’s Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 0-6, 7-6 (1).

Earlier, 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic won the last three games to finish off a tight tussle 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 over Australian Jelena Dokic 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.

The third-seeded Ivanovic hasn’t played since a first-round exit at Tokyo in September, which followed a disappointing first-round loss at the U.S. Open.

With a No. 21-ranking, she’s already aiming to return to the top 10.

“Obviously there were nerves in the beginning, but I did a really good preparation and that gave me a lot of confidence,” Ivanovic said.

Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat fifth-seeded compatriot Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, and Czech player Lucie Safarova beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1.

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 and International Tennis Federation against Gasquet.

The CAS accepted Gasquet’s claim that he inadvertently consumed cocaine, discovered in a March drug test, by kissing a woman in a Miami club hours after withdrawing from a tournament because of an injury.

“It is just good for me to play with nothing in the head,” said Gasquet, who was a semifinalist here last year. “It was most important I could play relaxed.”

In other men’s first-round results, Colombia’s Alejandro Falla beat seventh-seeded Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-4 and eighth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil defeated Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.