Henin advances, Dokic ousted

Former world number one Justine Henin moved safely through to the second round defeating Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-2. The Belgian was never troubled, breaking serve twice in each set to wrap up the win in one hour and eight minutes.
“It’s a great feeling,” Henin told yahoosports.com after her win. “It’s a tournament I like a lot and I won here six years ago. It seems like a long time ago.
“I was glad with the way I won my match today. Not everything was perfect but generally I found a pretty good rhythm and I felt I could go a lot to the net.
“It was great to meet with the fans again here at Indian Wells. I have a lot of good memories from the past.”
Henin, the winner of 12 Grand Slam titles, will play Argentine 31st seed Gisela Dulko in round two.

The 27-year-old has reached successive finals since returning to the tour in January after quitting the game in 2008. Henin has not appeared on the circuit since losing to American Serena Williams in the Australian Open final in late January, but the 2004 Indian Wells champion looms as a huge threat this week.

Australian wildcard Jelena Dokic suffered a shocking first round loss to Russian Vera Dushevina. The world number 101 was hammered 6-0, 6-3 in just 50 minutes.

In the first set, Dokic was outclassed having her serve broken three times and only winning seven points.

Dokic started better in the second set, breaking serve to take a 3-2 lead. But the 43rd ranked Dushevina assumed control and broke again at 4-3. She served out the match to set up a second round clash with 10th seed Maria Sharapova.

It is the third time Dokic has lost in the first round this season. The 26-year-old, who was ranked as high as number four in August 2002, now heads to Miami looking to capture the stellar form she showed early in 2009. She made it to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open as a wildcard and ended the year inside the world’s top 60, the first time in five years.

Another Australian, Alicia Molik had better luck in her first round match. The big-serving Aussie demolished German Tatjana Malek 6-1, 6-3. Molik, currently ranked 138th, won the match in just over one hour. The former world no.8 returned to the tour late last year after retiring in 2008 due to leg and elbow problems.

The 29-year-old cruised through the opening set in 31 minutes, breaking serve three times. She continued her solid serving in the second set, and did not concede a break point the entire match en route to a comfortable straight-sets victory. She next faces Spanish 29th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Americans Vania King and Jill Craybas also had solid wins on day one action. King overcame youngster Christina McHale 7-5, 6-3 while 35-year-old Craybas proved too good for Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou 6-0, 7-5. King, a quarter-finalist last week in the Monterrey Open will face Danish second seed Caroline Wozniacki. Veternan Craybas will take on German 22nd seed Sabine Lisicki.

British pair Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong had mixed results in their opening matches. Baltacha, ranked 65th in the world, overcame American youngster Alexa Glatch 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4. In the next round she will face Chinese seventh seed and Australian Open semi-finalist Li Na. After a strong start, world no. 123 Keothavong was overwhelmed by Anna Chakvetadze 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. The consistent Russian has now won all four matches they have played. Her next opponent will be Polish fifth seed, Agnieszka Radwanska.

Women’s Singles results, Wednesday - First Round

P Schnyder (SUI) d T Garbin (ITA) 61 62
V Dushevina (RUS) d J Dokic (AUS) 60 63
[WC] J Henin (BEL) d M Rybarikova (SVK) 62 62
V King (USA) d [WC] C Mchale (USA) 75 63
[WC] A Molik (AUS) d T Malek (GER) 61 63
J Craybas (USA) d [WC] E Daniilidou (GRE) 60 75
K Date Krumm (JPN) d M Czink (HUN) 62 62
S Cirstea (ROU) d K Kanepi (EST) 67(1) 63 64
O Govortsova (BLR) d I Benesova (CZE) 60 46 76(8)
S Peng (CHN) d E Makarova (RUS) 61 26 64
V Razzano (FRA) d K Barrois (GER) 63 64
[Q] E Baltacha (GBR) d [WC] A Glatch (USA) 63 67(3) 64
[LL] T Tanasugarn (THA) d [Q] E Gallovits (ROU) 62 63
P Hercog (SLO) d I Olaru (ROU) 75 64
K Flipkens (BEL) d T Bacsinszky (SUI) 76(4) 67(5) 61
A Chakvetadze (RUS) d A Keothavong (GBR) 26 63 61
 

Mark Skendaris