“I think we set the bar for pretty high for ourselves for the rest of the year but obviously it’s a great tournament to start off the year and a great match, so I couldn’t be happier with myself, but I would also like to congratulate Justine,” Clijsters told the crowd afterwards. “This is the first tournament that she’s back and she’s really played at a really high level.”

The Brisbane International in Australia kicks off the 2010 WTA Tour in wild fashion, featuring the return of former world No. 1 Justine Henin, fellow Belgian comeback queen and former No. 1 Kim Clijsters as the top seed, in addition to seeds Nadia Petrova, former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, Daniela Hantuchova, Alisa Kleybanova, Aleksandra Wozniak, Melinda Czink and Iveta Benesova.

No. 2-seeded Belasrussian Victoria Azarenka won her first tour title in her fifth career title Saturday at Brisbane, easily defeating No. 3 seed Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-1.
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“It was a tighter match than the score showed,” offered the runner-up Bartoli, who has now lost her last four finals. “All the games were very tight, going to [...]

Officials at the Hopman Cup exhibition were shocked when Marat Safin showed up for the event with a black and bloodied eye and cuts on his face after getting in a brawl in Moscow.

Big start to the New Year with just about all the top guys playing ATP events, including Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and the two Andys, Murray and Roddick, all in Doha.