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.

BTW, according to the WTA, dumb-ass Qatari tennis authorities paid $42 million to stage the season-ending event for three years until it moves to Istanbul in 2011. Cha-ching WTA!

Jankovic, who had a stellar 2008 season, this year failed to compete for the top spot, blaming a too-hard training regiment in the off-season.

BLAKE AND BARKER BREAK — James Blake and his coach Brian Barker, who has coached him since his junior days, have mutually parted ways. Blake is finishing out the year with fellow Floridian Kelly Jones as his coach. Jones, a former No. 1-ranked doubles player on the ATP tour, has worked with other Floridians Mardy Fish and John Isner.

Notes: Jankovic is the defending champ, beating Zvonareva in the 2008 final; (3) Radwanska opens against Kirilenko; 11 Russians in the draw excluding qualifiers; a $1 million “Premier”-level event (with none of the Top 6 players?).

“We were ready for a dog fight,” Bob Bryan said. “When you’ve got one of the best singles players of our era playing with one of the best doubles players of our era it’s going to make for a great match up. Mike and I came out focused and played one of the best matches we’ve played in a long time.”

Excluding the ill Ivanovic, 16 of the Top 16 players are in Beijing this week. Jankovic is the defending champ, and Serena Williams is projected to take over the No. 1 ranking if she can progress further in the draw than Safina.

“Elena is a grinder and gets a lot of balls back, so the most important thing against her is execution. I just wasn’t able to do that,” said Sharapova, who had 48 unforced errors. “I wasn’t as fresh as I was in the first round, but it was the final, and you can’t really think about it. It was a really great week for me, though. Playing six matches was great leading up to the US Open. This was really good preparation.”

Lindsay Davenport was 1-5 in career New Haven finals, while Venus Williams won four in a row from 1999-2002; no U.S. stars this year (wildcard Shaughnessy is only U.S. player!).

Murray is the defending champ (d. Djokovic), and the Bryans in doubles; Blake back from a foot injury; Del Potro has got to be tired; nice Q effort by Ljuby; potential Roddick vs. Federer quarterfinal.