Three of the most tantalizing first round matches were completed on Monday at the WTA events in Brisbane & Auckland.

The Brisbane International featured the return of former #1 Justine Henin taking on 2nd seeded Nadia Petrova. Henin & Petrova played a very high quality match, which featured some strong deep hitting from the baseline. In the end the mental toughness of Henin combined with her better movement and variety allowed her to close out the match in straight sets 7-5, 7-5.

Henin’s forehand isn’t quite as effective as it once was, it’s sitting up just a bit, but overall she could not have asked for a better opening match. She’s going for a bit more on the first serve, and it’s proved to be just as effective.

Petrova still has game, but hasn’t been able to really show up when sets were tight. She was broken in both sets at 5-5. If she can continue to be aggressive, especially on her weaker forehand side, I see no reason why she can’t return to the top 10 very soon.

Another anticipated match was between another former #1 Ana Ivanovic against former top 5 player Jelena Dokic. Dokic and the hometown crowd played well in her first WTA event in sometime, but in the end Ivanovic was able to steady herself through in three sets. I think there are two positives out of this match, Ana was able to close out a match against a lower ranked opponent, and Jelena hung tough against a top player. Both of these could do some damage in Melbourne.

Over in Auckland featured a battle of the generations as 39 year old Kimiko Date-Krumm took on 22 year old Anna Chakvetadze. Both of these players were ranked in the top 5, Date Krumm was #4 in 1995 while Chakvetadze was #5 in 2007. Currently they are both ranked outside the worlds top 60, which is a great rise for the comebacker Date, while being a complete and utter slide for the Russian.

Chakvetadze was only able to make one QF in 2009, and will need to wait another week to find another. Kimiko’s flat and old school game was too much for Chakvetadze, going out meekly 6-1, 6-2.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

The 2010 WTA season gets underway this week with tournaments in Brisbane, Australia & Auckland, New Zealand. You can jump over to The Daily Forehand for my preview of the ASB Classic in Auckland.

Brisbane has attracted a star studded field of players all looking to kickstart their 2010 campaigns in week 1. The story of the field is undoubtely the return of former #1 and grand slam champion Justine Henin. Henin, returning after a year and a half away from the tour has a tough assignment ahead of her, as she faces the #2 seed Nadia Petrova in the opening round. Petrova seems to always draw the comeback players early, she played (and lost) to Maria Sharapova at Roland Garros last year, which was Maria’s 2nd tournament back.

The other Belgian comeback star Kim Clijsters is also in the field as the top seed. Kim will open 2010 against Tathiana Garbin, but looks to have an easy stroll through to the semifinals where she could face #4 seed Daniela Hantuchova.

Another interesting first round match-up is between #3 seed Ana Ivanovic against the hometown hero of last January Jelena Dokic. Dokic had two wins and a runner-up finish in 100K & 50K challengers last fall, to complete her injury plagued and short season. Former #1 Ivanovic has just slipped outside of the top 20, and only played one additional tournament after the US Open. Ana is on a three match losing streak, and has not reached the quarterfinals of an event since making the finals of Indian Wells last March.

Predictions:

1R Upset: WC-Justine Henin def. (2)Nadia Petrova (duh!)

Semifinals
(1)Kim Clijsters def. (4)Daniela Hantuchova
WC-Justine Henin def. (5)Alisa Kleybanova

Finals
(1)Kim Clijsters def. WC-Justine Henin

Feels like we’re back in the mid 2000s huh. Since, Justine announced her comeback I have been hoping for a Belgian showdown, and for Kim to finally get the better of Justine. This would be a big step at a small tournament, that I’d hope she’d be able to reproduce if they are ever on a bigger stage.