Justine Henin makes winning return to Roland Garros
Justine Henin has marked her long awaited return to the French Open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the first round against Tsvetana Pironkova, but there’s still work to do if she’s to reclaim her title at the tournament this year.
A four-time champion at the clay court Grand Slam, Henin had won the title for three consecutive years prior to surprising the tennis world by announcing her retirement on the eve of the 2008 tournament.
With Henin’s return in 2010, all eyes have been on whether the Belgian can pick up where she left off, and that’s holding the silverware aloft at the end of two weeks of tennis in Paris.
Pironkova, however, was not about to be intimidated by the impressive record that accompanied Henin onto the Philippe Chatrier Court on day three of the French Open, matching the 22nd seed game for game to 3-3 in the first set. The Bulgarian then saved triple break point in the seventh game before Henin secured the break on her fourth chance with a backhand down the line, celebrating the fact with the familiar cry of “Allez!”.
Pironkova, who had lost all three previous matches against Henin in part-one of the Belgian’s career, refused to allow Henin to consolidate the break without a fight, but was unable to halt the former world No. 1’s march towards the first set, which she ultimately wrapped up 6-4 in her next service game.
Henin stamped her authority on the second set at the outset, breaking Pironkova’s serve in the opening game as she started to use her all-court game to her advantage. Her 22-year-old opponent, however, again refused to be shaken off, breaking back to level at 2-2 and then holding serve as Henin’s game wilted in the Paris sun.
As unforced errors began to creep into Henin’s game, she found herself on the receiving end of a triple break point chance as Pironkova started to string shots together, but a blistering backhand winner saved the last of them and an ace sealed a 3-3 score-line in the second set.
Having used her get out of jail free card in the previous game, Henin easily secured the break in Pironkova’s next service game, before she was again pushed on her own serve.
Keen to close out the match as quickly as possible, Henin racked up three match points against Pironkova’s serve in the next game, needing just one to move through to the second round.
It was a performance that showed Henin still has all the tricks in the bag to win a fifth title at her favourite Grand Slam, as she produced 31 winners from all corners of the court.
However, it’s also one which also highlighted that the 27-year-old has some work to do to minimise the peaks and troughs in her game that were evident both in this match and in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, which she won in three sets, despite her forehand disappearing for much of the second set.
Henin may have passed her first test at Roland Garros this year, but there’s still some work to do if she’s to finish top of the class at the end of the clay court major.
Tags: