Henin beats No. 5 Dementieva, reaches 3rd round

Melbourne: Seven-time major winner Justine Henin has beaten No. 5-seeded Elena Dementieva 7-5, 7-6 (6) to advance to the third round of the Australian Open in her Grand Slam comeback.

Henin had a match point at 5-4 and 40-30 but netted a forehand, then Dementieva produced consecutive backhand winners to level the second set.

She again had a chance to serve for the match but was broken, Dementieva forcing a tiebreaker and then leading it 3-1. The Russian also had a set point in the tiebreaker before Henin won three straight points to finish it off in 2 hours, 50 minutes.

The 27-year-old Henin is two tournaments into a comeback to the tour, having lost the Brisbane International final in three sets to fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters to start this season.