Former world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne continued her rehabilitation after injury and illness with a hard-fought 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over 10th seed Jelena Jankovic in the first round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina on Monday.
The Belgian, whose ranking has slipped to 43, struggled throughout but fought back strongly to clinch victory and set up a clash with Peng Shuai of China.
"It was a very tough match," Henin-Hardenne said. "I knew it would be because she has been doing well at the start of the year.
"I was the outsider today. I am the number 43 in the world and she is the number 10 seed so it is a good win for me."
Playing her first claycourt match since the French Open almost a year ago, the 22-year-old looked on course for a straightforward win when she eased to a 4-1 lead.
Henin-Hardenne served for the set at 5-3 but after squandering a set point she was broken and then won just three points as the Serbian won four consecutive games and the set.
The second set followed a similar pattern as Henin-Hardenne broke twice for 5-2 only to be hauled back to 5-4. This time she held on and levelled the match, before breaking in the first game of the third set.
After having treatment on her back, world number 20 Jankovic broke back immediately for 1-1 only to lose her serve again in the next game and a relieved Henin-Hardenne eased through the set to clinch victory on her third match point.
"I should have won this match in two sets. I was leading 4-1 and had a set point at 5-3, so I should have won that set," the Belgian added. "The good thing is that I was able to fight hard at the beginning of the second set and win the match."
MYSTERY VIRUS
As the world number one, Henin-Hardenne began 2004 by winning the Australian Open for her third Grand Slam title, but played just nine events as she was struck down by a mystery virus.
She returned at the French Open only to lose in the second round and then did not play until the Olympic Games in Athens, where she stunned everyone by winning the gold medal.
That effort cost her, though. Fatigued and flat, she went out in the fourth round at the US Open before taking the rest of the year off to recuperate.
A micro-fracture to her right knee kept her from defending her Australian Open title in January, but she returned after a six-month break off at last month's event in Miami, where she surprised herself by reaching the quarter-finals.
In other day one action, ninth seed Elena Likhovtseva of Russia suffered a surprise defeat, going down 6-3, 6-4 to Czech Klara Koukalova, while 15-year-old Czech Nicole Vaidisova edged out improving Israeli Shahar Peer 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.
Ai Sugiyama, the 11th seed, beat Ukrainian qualifier Yuliana Fedak 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and Fabiola Zuluaga, the 16th seed, eased into round two with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over French qualifier Severine Beltrame.
