Former world number one Kim Clijsters of Belgium made a victorious return to women's tennis after a nearly four month layoff. Clijsters downed Croatian Jelena Kostanic, 6-2, 6-3, Tuesday at the Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium.
A serious wrist injury in October forced the 21-year-old Clijsters to be sidelined. The tournament's defending champion will meet fifth seed Nadia Petrova of Russia, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues.
Nathalie Dechy (number six) of France and number-eight Karolina Sprem of Croatia both lost their opening round matches. Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic upset Dechy, 7-6, 6-4, while Russian player Anna Chakvetadze eliminated Sprem, 7-5, 6-3.
Other first round winners Tuesday included Camille Pin of France, and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia.
Some information for this story provided by AP and AFP.
