World No. 1 Justine Henin won her opening match at the Rogers Cup women's tennis tournament in Toronto on Wednesday night, her path to a second title potentially helped by a series of upsets earlier in the day.
Henin, 25, overcame a sluggish start to set aside Andreja Klepac of Slovenia 6-3, 6-1.
Justine Henin smashes a forehand Wednesday night in Rogers Cup action in Toronto.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
The Belgian, who won the event in 2003, was playing for the first time since an upset loss in the Wimbledon semifinals to Marion Bartoli.
"I was playing too short. I wasn't aggressive at all because it was my first game in a few weeks," she said.
Henin won't have to contend with Ana Ivanovic, who won last year. Ivanovic was bounced by qualifier of Zi Yan of China 6-3, 6-1.
"I expected a tough match, but from the first point on she played very aggressively and she was dominating," Ivanovic said.
Ivanovic, 19, had been enjoying a great summer, reaching the final of the French Open in June and winning the Los Angeles Classic on Sunday before heading to Toronto.
Yan entered the week ranked 169th in the world.
"She's my favourite player," the 22-year-old Yan said. "I think today I'm really lucky."
There were two other notable upsets on Wednesday.
Unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone defeated No. 8 seed Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the third round. Unseeded American Meghann Shaughnessy defeated No. 16 Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
No. 7 Bartoli of France won her second-round match when Russia's Maria Kirilenko retired after trailing 6-2, 2-1. No. 9 Dinara Safina beat Nathalie Dechy of France 6-2, 6-1, and No. 10 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland defeated Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-3, 6-2.
Canadians eliminated
Stephanie Dubois, Aleksandra Wozniak and Marie-Eve Pelletier were all eliminated on Wednesday, leaving no Canadians in the tournament.
Dubois, 20, a native of Laval, Que., dropped a 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 1-6 decision to sixth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia in the second round.
The Canadian's loss comes one day after she stunned Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 7-5 in a thrilling marathon match.
The players were on serve through the first four games of the opening set before Dubois broke Petrova to take a 3-2 lead. The Canadian went on to win the set in a tiebreaker.
Petrova battled back in the second, breaking Dubois to go to 5-2 before serving out to win the set.
The Russian never looked back after that, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the third set after breaking Dubois three times to put the Canadian away.
Wozniak of Blainville, Que., lost to 6-4, 6-2 to No. 13 Sybile Bammer of Austria.
Pelletier of Repentigny, Que., was hammered 6-0, 6-1 by Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, the No. 2 seed, in Wednesday night's final match.
In other second-round results Wednesday:
- No. 12 Tatiana Golovin (France) defeated Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 6-4, 6-3.
- Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) defeated Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 7-5.
The semifinals go Saturday (CBC, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET) and the final is slated for Sunday (CBC, 2 p.m. ET).
With files from the Canadian PressRelated
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