Henin-Hardenne Wins First Round US Open Match

Flushing Meadows, NY (Sports Network) - Second-seeded Belgian Justine Henin- Hardenne was a first-round winner on Monday at the U.S. Open, the fourth and final Grand Slam event of the year. Henin-Hardenne was one of the first players scheduled to take the court on the event`s first day, but had to wait out a rain delay that lasted over an hour. The 2003 winner here then had little trouble with her first-round opponent, Italian Maria Elena Camerin, and rolled to a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Henin-Hardenne has reached the final in all three of the other Grand Slam event`s this year. She titled at Roland Garros while finishing runner-up to Amelie Mauresmo at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. A pair of Russians also moved into the second round in the form of fourth seed Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded sixth, though one had an easier time than the other. Dementieva rolled past American Laura Granville in straight sets 6-1, 6-4, while 2004 champion Kuznetsova needed a third set to down German Sandra Kloesel 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Tenth-seeded American Lindsay Davenport seemed to rebound from a shoulder injury that forced her out of the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament on Saturday. Davenport was trailing Henin-Hardenne 0-6, 0-1 when she called it quits. However, she was never threatened by Czech Klara Zakopalova and won in straight sets 6-1, 6-4. This year`s U.S. Open is without last season`s champion Kim Clijsters, who is unable to defend her title this season as a wrist injury forced her to sit out the event. Seventh seed Patty Schnyder beat Anna Smashnova, 6-1, 6-2; while ninth seed Nicole Vaidisova upended Chanda Rubin, 6-4, 6-3. Francesca Schiavone, the 14th seed, defeated Romina Oprandi, 6-1, 6-2. Fifteenth-seeded Anna-Lena Groenefeld went by the way of an upset on Day 1 as unseeded Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai downed her German counterpart 2-6, 6-0, 6-4. Other seeds to advance out of the first round include No.19 Jelena Jankovic, No.20 Maria Kirilenko, 21st-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel; 22nd seed Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia; 26th-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli; and 28th seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan. (Copyright 2005 by The Sports Network)