On the rainy first day of the French Open, four players advanced to the second round: the defending champion and three-time Roland Garros winner Justine Henin, the 2002 French Open winner Serena Williams, Dinara Safina of Russia, and Tamira Paszek of Austria.

Serena Williams, who has never lost in the first round of a Grand Slam, struggled through the opening set, but eventually dominated Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova 5-7, 6-1, 6-1. Serena was broken four times in the first set, and again in the opening game of the second. But then, she found her rhythm and everything went smoothly towards the end. The eight-time Grand Slam winner could thank the rainy weather which disrupted the match at the moment Pironkova lead 6-5. The break seemed to have helped the eighth seed to collect herself and win the match.

Top-seeded Justine Henin also advanced to the second round by beating Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-4, 6-3. Her opponent in the second round will be Austria's Tamira Paszek who beat Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-4, 6-0.

Dinara Safina, No. 10 seed, defeated Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4. (source: ESPN)

The top-ranked player in the world announced on her website that she is physically fit and ready for Roland Garros which starts on Sunday. She has no more injuries. Respiratory problems she had in Miami are now over. "In Berlin you seen that in spite of the scheduled matches, despite the fact that I played more than seven hours and four matches in two days I still held my fitness level," Justine said.

While the Belgian was elaborate when talking about her physical health, she hasn't commented much on the other contenders in Paris. She said that she has great respect for all the WTA players – all the way from the first round opponents. Still, she pointed out the two players that have been very successful lately — world No. 4 Jelena Jankovic, who won the tournament in Rome on Sunday, and world No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova, who was a runner-up four times this year. However, Henin added that other players can be a challenge as well. (source: Justine Henin's site)

The players that pose the biggest threat to the 2003, 2005, and 2006 French Open winner, Justine Henin, are Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The American, who won Roland Garros in 2002, hasn't played much, but if she is fit and healthy, she can achieve everything. Serena has proved many times that she is a true champion. By winning this year's Australian Open, when only few people believed in her, she showed that we can still expect some great results from her. What we can say without a doubt is that Serena is entering the French Open with confidence.

The other candidate to make problems to Henin is Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova. She defeated Henin in Berlin last week on clay. If she keeps her mental strength, world No. 3 can beat any player. She is fit, strong and moves well.

However, there are very few players that can challenge the Belgian in Paris. Amelie Mauresmo is struggling after a two-month break caused by her appendix operation, Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis have both sustained injuries and are still not sure if they will play, Kim Clijsters has retired, while Venus Williams doesn't have much of a chance. (via ESPN)

In Berlin quarterfinal Jelena Jankovic continued her tradition of winning the opening set against Justine Henin, and eventually coming out as a loser. So far, they have played five times, and four times Jelena won the first set; still, all the five times she lost the match!

In Saturday's quarterfinal Jelena was so close to victory — in the third set she had a 4-0 lead. Henin seemed disturbed, you could see her watching anxiously at her coach. However, she managed to recover and win six consecutive games to advance to the semis.

"I don't know how that could happen," said the Serbian.

"I thought I had everything under control and I am really upset, I was so close to beating her. It was slippery out there and I didn't feel safe on the court.

"But it was all my own mistake that I lost, I wasted all my chances to win." (Source: BBC Sport)

J&S Cup, which takes place in Warsaw from April 30, has Justine Henin of Belgium as its top seed.

As the first four seeds have a bye in the first round, Justine Henin plays her first match either on Wednesday or on Thursday against the winner of the match between Kaia Kanepi and Anna-Lena Groenefeld . Justine has played Anna-Lena Groenefeld once, at 2006 Roland Garros, and won in straight sets. Estonia's Kaia Kanepi and world No. 1 have never met so far.

If in the opening round everything goes according to Justine's plans, she will face Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals, and then have a semifinal meeting with Jelena Jankovic or Anna Chakvetadze.

This is Henin's second time to play in Warsaw. Last time, in 2005, she came out as a winner defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-2, 7-5. The defending champion this year is Justine's compatriot, Kim Clijsters, seeded second.

(source: Justine Henin's website)

Justine Henin has started training on clay court this week, and will continue to practice during the next two weeks.

Before Roland Garros, we will see her in the J&S Cup, starting April 30 in Warsaw, and in the Qatar German Open held in Berlin in early May. After these tournaments, the Queen of clay will have two weeks of intensive training to prepare for the French Open which she won in 2003, 2005, and 2006.

(source: Justine Henin's website)

Only three women from the top ten will take part in the first round of the Fed Cup — Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Anna Chakvetadze; they are all representatives of Russia.

Why won't the other highly ranked players compete in the Fed Cup?

• Top-ranked Justine Henin of Belgium wants to have enough time to prepare for the clay-season, as well as to treat her breathing problems. Her next tournament will be Warsaw, starting April 30.
• Maria Sharapova, Russia's highest-ranked player, won't make her Fed Cup debut because of injured shoulder and hamstring.
• France's Amelie Mauresmo is recovering from her appendectomy.
• Kim Clijsters, another Belgian top player, decided to skip the Fed Cup because of her busy schedule.
• Countries of Martina Hingis (Switzerland), Nicole Vaidisova (the Czech Republic) and Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) are not in the World Group.

I have already mentioned that Justine Henin won't play until April 30 (Warsaw – J&S Cup) due to her breathing problems. Amelie Mauresmo is still recovering from her appendectomy. And, Maria Sharapova, who was supposed to make her debut this year at the Fed Cup, announced that she will miss both the Fed Cup and the Family Circle Cup because of her shoulder injury and problems with the left hamstring. We'll see her on court again after 5-6 weeks.

After losing to Serena Williams in Miami final, Henin announced that she won't play in Charleston (which starts on April 9). She wants to go home and rest in order to prepare for the clay-season. She needs some treatment to fight her respiratory problems. Warsaw (April 30) will be her next tournament.

Justine Henin didn’t manage to add the Miami title to her collection, while Serena Williams accompanies Steffi Graf as the only two female tennis players who won both the Australian Open and Miami in the same year.

Justine won the first set with an astonishing 6-0 – I was afraid that I was going to watch a boring final. But, things slowly began to change, which made the match much more exciting. In the second set Serena began to fight. Serena’s wealth of experience helped her survive Justine’s two championship points, and even win the second set 7-5. In the third set Henin became a bit discouraged especially after she fell – two times! I thought she will not be able to continue the match. In addition, vast majority of spectators were encouraging Serena, while only from time to time you could hear the French “Allez”.

All in all, I think we can all be satisfied because we were watching a really interesting final.