Australian Open Day Three: Justine Henin Shocks Elena Dementieva in Oz

Justine Henin continued her remarkable comeback to the world of tennis by upsetting No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva on day three in Melbourne.

There were also straight set victories for six of the top 10, including No. 2 Dinara Safina, No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova, and No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki.

Playing in her first grand slam in two years, Henin claimed a closely-fought 7-5, 7-6 win in what is her biggest victory since leaving the sport at the peak of her game.

Dementieva, still yet to win a Grand Slam, blew set points serving at 5-4, and she was forced to chase Henin for most of the second set before rallying to force a tiebreaker.

The Russian then wasted another set point after Henin sent a forehand long, and she chose an awful time to try an ill-advised drop shot to give Henin a match point and send her on her way into the third round.

The two hour 50 minute match saw 13 breaks of serve and some exquisite volleying, with Dementieva exerting her heavy-hitting game from the back of the court and Henin mixing things up with a barrage of backhands, slices, and drop shots.

Dementieva will look back on the tournament as another chance at major glory missed, especially after her strong showing in Sydney last week. It was unfortunate to get paired with the most dangerous floater in the field in round two, but you have to beat the best out there if you want a legitimate shot at the title. I will admit that I gave Henin virtually no chance at advancing one more round...now I'm wondering whether she can make it past the third and fourth rounds.

Henin, a seven-time Grand Slam winner and 2004 Australian Open champion, will face Alisa Kleybanova in the third round, with the possibility of a quarterfinal clash with fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters still in the cards. How exciting would that be?

Clijsters beat Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3, 6-3 in Rod Laver Arena and will now face No. 19 seed Nadia Petrova.

While Dementieva crashed out, other high-profile names in the women’s draw continued to roll.

Dinara Safina beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-3, 6-4, never dropping  serve despite facing nine break points. Her bend-don’t-break approach set up a third round clash with Britain’s Elena Baltacha who defeated No. 30 Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 7-5.

No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova dispatched of Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-2 in 69 minutes and she too will face an unseeded player in round three after German Angelique Kerber upset No. 26-seeded Aravane Revai 6-2, 6-3 on show court No. 3.

Unseeded Yanina Wickmayer also solidified her place as a legitimate threat in the lower half of the draw with a 7-6(2), 6-1 victory over No. 12 Flavia Pennetta. Wickmayer, ranked 15th in the world, had to go through the qualifying tournament after legal issues made her miss the deadline, but she proved she is deserving of her place in the main draw with an impressive display against a top 10 contender.

Being in the same quarter of the draw as Clijsters, Kuznetsova, and Henin won’t help her chances of progressing to the second week in Melbourne, but she should be taken seriously while she is still in the competition.

There were also victories for No. 11 Marion Bartoli, who beat Sandra Zahlavova 6-4, 6-4, No. 19 seed Nadia Petrova, who was victorious over Kaia Kanepi 6-4, 6-4, and No. 27 Alisa Kleybanova, who defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3.

No. 24 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez won’t be joining them vying for a spot in the fourth round after a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 defeat to Jie Zheng. Zheng was a top 15 player less than 12 months ago, but a wrist injury hampered her play in 2009.

She has a solid hard court game and reached the fourth round here at Melbourne Park in 2009 as well as the third round at Flushing Meadows. It was the first meeting between the two women, and with the Spaniard coming off her big breakthrough season too, the match was as close as pundits expected.

Jelena Jankovic turned in one of the better second round performances from a seed with her comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win over Katie O’Brien. The No. 8 seed is moving through the draw quietly and she looked in fine form against the Brit, dropping just nine points on serve and limiting herself to 16 unforced errors compared to 50, including eight double faults, from O’Brien. In a game completely dominated by baseline rallies, Jankovic was content to work the ball from side to side, but she will need to work in approach shots into her hard court game if she wants to maintain her winning ways against Alona Bondarenko in round three.

Elsewhere, Sara Errani defeated Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Roberta Vinci edged past Vania King 7-6(7), 7-5, and Maria Kirilenko continued the form that saw her past Maria Sharapova with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Austrian Yvonne Meusburger.

After making it to the third round of the Australian Open in 2006 and 2007, and to the fourth round in 2008, Kirilenko was dumped out in round one last year.

No longer a top-32 player, the 22-year-old Russian currently sits at No. 63 in the world. While a quarterfinal defeat to Shahar Peer in Auckland two weeks ago wasn’t the best thing for her confidence, she has already shown that she is capable of playing winning tennis when she cuts out the errors. She will meet Roberta Vinci in round three.

In first round action, Dane Caroline Wozniacki knocked off Aleksandra Wozniak 6-4, 6-2, benefiting from nine double faults and 51 unforced errors from the Canadian. No. 4 Wozniacki will meet Julia Goerges on Friday for a place in round three.

No. 7 Victoria Azarenka from Belarus also safely made it into round two with a comfortable 6-2, 6-0 win over Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, and No. 9 Vera Zvonerava needed just 56 minutes to whip past Slovak Kristina Kucova 6-2, 6-0.

The 16th seed Na Li made light work of Marina Erakovic 6-2, 6-0, No. 22 Daniela Hantuchova fought from a set down to see off Viktoriya Kutuzova 3-6, 6-1, 7-5, and No. 29 Shahar Peer put a disappointing first set tiebreak behind her to demolish Lucie Hradecka 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-1.

Elena Vesnina was not so fortunate, losing her opening match to Italian Tathiana Garbin 7-6(5), 6-4.

Thursday’s action will see two of Australia’s darlings in second round action. Sam Stosur will meet Kristina Barrois in the second match in Rod Laver Arena, and Casey Dallacqua has the honour of following a certain Mr. Roger Federer onto the center stage in the nightcap against Karolina Sprem.

No. 6 seed Venus Williams and defending champion Serena will play back-to-back matches in Hisense Arena in the morning session against Sybille Bammer and Petra Kvitova respectively, and Caroline Wozniacki will play her second match in as many days when she faces the up-and-coming Julia Goerges.

Other seeds in action from the top half of the draw include Ana Ivanovic, up first in Margaret Court Arena against Gisela Dulko; No. 7 Victoria Azarenka against Stefanie Voegele; No. 10 Agnieszka Radwanska against Alla Kudryavtseva; Na Li against Hungarian Agnes Szavay; No. 21 Sabine Lisicki against Alberta Brianti; Francesca Schiavone against Julie Coin; and lowest seed Carla Suarez Navarro against Andrea Petkovic.