Justine Henin, Venus Williams Open 2011 Australian Open with Wins

Lauren Lynch

Jan 17, 2011

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Two of tennis' leading ladies over the past decade returned from long injury stints to win their opening round matches at the Australian Open Monday.

The US' Venus Williams, inactive since the US Open, thrashed Italy's Sara Errani 6-3, 6-2, racking up eight aces and hitting 73 percent of her first serves for winners.

Belgium's Justine Henin, hurt since Wimbledon, had a bit more of a nail-biter, going three sets before defeating India's Sania Mirza, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. It was a year ago here that Henin made her remarkable comeback to tennis and reached the finals.

The rest of the day was almost all status quo, led by No.1 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who dismissed the growing notion that she was discombobulated early this season with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Gisela Dulko.

Maria Sharapova cruised in the first round, as did Top 15 seeds Na Li and Victoria Azarenka. Twenty-third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, a semifinalist at Sydney, continued to melt competition like a hot knife through butter, defeating the US' Allison Riske, 6-3, 6-2.

Only two seeded players were defeated—Russia's Regina Kulikova took down 28th-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 7-6(3), 3-6, 9-7, and the Czech Republic's Barbora Zahlavova Strycova took out 17th-seeded Aravane Rezai, 6-0, 3-6, 7-5.