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Henin registers victory in the first-round at Indian Wells Tournament

By AjayTyagi (TennisEarth.com), Submitted On

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It did not take much time for the former world No. 1 Belgian and seven-time Grand Slam champion Justin Henin to get into the groove, as she easily beat Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, 6-2 6-2, in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, here on Wednesday. 

Henin has been playing in this tournament for the first time since 2006. She was at the top of her career on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, when she surprised everyone by announcing her retirement in May, 2008. She returned to tennis court in January.

Henin, playing after the Australian Open final looked bit out of touch with her serving in the beginning, but gradually she got hold over the game and earned four break points. Looking satisfied over her first-round win, Henin said, "It was a very good feeling. This is a tournament I like a lot." She further added, "It's been a break of one month with no competition so I was glad the way I went into the match today. Not everything was perfect, but I found a pretty good rhythm and felt I could go a lot to the net and I felt really good on the court, actually." 

On her future plans, Henin quoted, "I still think I need a few more tournaments. In Australia I proved to myself that I could make it, that I didn't really need a lot of competition to be at a pretty good level. But I see further than that. For the French Open and Wimbledon I hope I can be at my best level. I need to get used just to being back on tour. That's not that easy, to find a rhythm, to really find my place. I still have to build my confidence, I have to win matches, I have to feel strong enough mentally and physically.” 

Henin will play against Gisela Dulko of Argentina in the second round. Other winners of the day were: Vera Dushevina of Russia who beat Jelena Dokic of Australia with a 6-0 6-3 scoreline; Patty Schnyder of Switzerland registered an easy win over Tathiana Garbin of Italy 6-1 6-2;  Alicia Molok of Australia defeated Tatjana Malek of Germany  6-1 6-3;  Olga Govortsova of Belarus beat Czech Iveta Benesova, 6-0 4-6 7-6 (8); Chinese Shuai Peng thrashed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, 6-1 2-6 6-4; Sorana Cirstea of Romania beat Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, 6-7 (1) 6-3 6-4; and American Jill Craybas, beat Eleni Daniilidou of Greece with a 6-0 7-5 scoreline.