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Justine Henin may well be back in full form after 15 months away from the tennis circuit. She is showing she still knows how to play as she works her way through the draw in the 2010 WTA Brisbane International tournament going on Jan. 4-10, 2010 in Brisbane, Australia.

Coming into the tournament unseeded, she faced a good challenge with the No. 2 seed, Nadia Petrova of Russia in the first round. Henin prevailed in a close match, 7-5, 7-5. She then took on unseeded 20 year-old Sesil Karatancheva of Bulgaria who had a two-year suspension for using drugs in 2005. Henin took her out 6-4, 6-3. In the Quarterfinals, Henin defeated 7th seed, Melinda Czink of Hungary in a very close 3-set match, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).

The current world No. 2, and 3-time Grand Slam finalist, Dinara Safina of Russia, is pulling out of the Brisbane International scheduled for January 3-10, 2010, because of a lingering back injury. The back pain forced Safina to quit in tears after just 12 minutes and two games into a match against Jelena Jankovic at the WTA Championships at Doha in October. Going into the tournament she was ranked No. 1, and was working to end the year at that spot. The meltdown caused her to eventually lose the top WTA ranking to Serena Williams.