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    PARIS, France -- Justine Henin, playing her first match of the year, had to come back from one set down to defeat Emilie Loit of France at the Paris Open on Wednesday. The Belgian top seed, who had played her last competitive match when she won last year's season-ending Tour championship in Madrid on Nov. 12, won 3-6 6-2 6-2 in one hour and 22 minutes. "It's never easy to return to competition. I always have problems. In the first set, I didn't play very well but I was expecting it, then I found a better rhythm," she said. Henin, who lost her world number one spot to Maria Sharapova after skipping the Australian Open for personal reasons, will face Tatiana Golovin or Russian qualifier Ekaterina Bychkova in the quarter-finals. Golovin defeated fellow Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-2 6-2 on Wednesday. Bychkova ousted sixth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland on Tuesday. Also on Wednesday, Camille Pin, ranked number 75 in the world, came close to upsetting Russian seventh seed Dinara Safina, winner of the tournament in 2005. The diminutive French girl served for the match but lost 2-6 6-2 7-6 in two hours and 13 minutes. Russian eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze powered through to the second round with a 6-2 6-0 demolition of compatriot Olga Poutchkova, winning 10 games in a row to wrap up her win in 52 minutes. She will meet Anabel Medina Garrigues for a place in the quarterfinals after the Spaniard defeated Frenchwoman Severine Bremond 6-2 7-5. |
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Chakvetadze won 10 games in a row to wrap up a convincing win in 52 minutes.
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