Justine faces tough opener in comeback

2010/01/03

BRISBANE: Former world No 1 Justine Henin faces a tough first-round match in her official comeback tournament after drawing second-seeded Nadia Petrova at the Brisbane International. Justine, a wild card, was the last player in the 32-women field to come out of the draw, coincidentally conducted by Nadia. The Russian gave a rueful smile as she turned Justine's name card over at the public draw in downtown Brisbane yesterday.

US Open champion Kim Clijsters will play Italian Tathiana Garbin today at Pat Rafter Arena. Justine plays Nadia tomorrow.

Men's top seed Andy Roddick drew Australian Davis Cup player Peter Luczak, while fellow American James Blake will play fifth-seeded compatriot Sam Querrey.

Justine spent 117 weeks at No 1 and has seven Grand Slam titles. She announced her comeback in September, soon after Belgian compatriot Kim won the US Open.

Kim and Justine are on opposite sides of the draw and could meet in the Brisbane final.

Justine said earlier this week she has matured during her 20-month break from tennis and expects to be a better player on her return to the tour.

"I believe I can be a better player, I believe I can use my experience more than in the past," Justine said.

"When you are into (playing tennis at) 200 percent you have no time to realize it. You are too involved all the time and all this time off helped me to realize everything I achieved.

Nadia felt Justine was already close to displaying the form she was in before her retirement.

"She was playing good tennis and she only needs a couple of matches to get her confidence," Nadia said. "You would like to get a little easier opponent to get into the year."

Kim said all 31 other players would fear Justine.

"She's had a lot of time to train hard and she will definitely be up there," Kim said.

Australian Jelena Dokic, a quarter-finalist at last year's Australian Open, also drew a tough first-round opponent at Brisbane. She'll face No. 3 seed and former No 1 ranked Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. -- AP