ROME: World No 1 Justine Henin and Amelie Mauresmo are the big name absentees from the Rome WTA Tier I International which started yesterday.

The Belgian French Open champion withdrew from the tournament citing fatigue following her elimination at the hands of Russian Dinara Safina in Berlin last week.

And two-time champion Amelie was forced to withdraw on Sunday because of a painful rib injury.

The 29-year-old, who won the trophy at the Foro Italico in 2004 and 2005, was advised by doctors not to risk a small muscle tear in her ribs.

The problem also forced 19th-ranked Amelie to pull out of this week's Berlin clay event, one of the pair of Tier I WTA tune-ups for Roland Garros, which begins in 13 days time.
But despite missing some of the best clay-court players in the world, the field will still contain seven of the world's top 10 players, including reigning champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, top-seeded compatriot Ana Ivanovic, and second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia.

As the last major tournament before the French Open, where Justine has reigned supreme in four of the last five years, this will prove a useful indicator as to who is in form and who is not.

And with Justine possibly not at her best, although she has won two Tier II titles this year she came up short at the quarter-final stage of both the Australian Open and the Tier I Miami Open, Roland Garros could be more open than ever this year.

But another one of those top 10 players not in Rome, Russia's Elena Dementieva, the other is Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, said in Berlin that Justine is still the main threat despite having played only two matches on clay this year.

"It is totally unpredictable who will win the French Open, but in my eyes Justine can still win it as she is such a good player," said Elena.

"Even if she has had only two matches to prepare herself. It will be tough this year as the competition is higher for her and she might not be at her best at the moment, but tennis is also unpredictable." -- AFP