( CNN ) -- Justine Henin booked her place in the third round of the Australian Open after she claimed a 7-5 7-6 ( 8-6 ) victory over fifth seed Elena Dementieva in Melbourne on Wednesday . The Belgian , who won the tournament in 2004 , came through an enthralling clash which lasted two hours 50 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena . Henin , who is playing in her first Grand Slam event since she ended her 20-month retirement from tennis , took the first set but Russian Dementieva hit back in an enthralling second set to take a 4-2 advantage . Wildcard Henin then broke back to take the next three games and the match went to tie-break but Dementieva was unable to take the match into a third set as Henin clinched victory with a fierce volley . After the match Henin admitted it was exactly the kind of match which vindicated her decision to return to competitive tennis . `` It 's great feeling . It 's magical to win this kind of match in this kind of atmosphere , '' Henin told reporters in the post-match press conference . `` It was a great match . It was very emotional for me on the court at the end because there was so much intensity . To play this kind of match in the second round , for me , after two years off in a Grand Slam , it 's just the kind of situation that I needed , . `` The crowd gave me so much . So respectful at the end . It was a special night tonight . That 's why I probably came back on the tour , was to live this kind of matches . '' Blog : Belgians lead the way in Melbourne . Henin will now play another Russian in 27th seed Alisa Kleybanova with a potential quarterfinal on the horizon against compatriot Kim Clijsters who came through in straight sets - 6-3 , 6-3 - against Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn . Fellow Belgian Wickmayer continued her recent good form by knocking out Italian 12th seed Flavia Pennetta 7-6 ( 7-2 ) 6-1 . Elsewhere , third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova recorded a 6-2 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova while Denmark 's Caroline Wozniacki overcome a nervy first set against Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak to win 6-4 6-2 . Seventh seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus cruised to a routine 6-2 6-0 victory over France 's Stephanie Cohen-Aloro while Russian Vera Zvonareva eased past Slovakian Kristina Kucova by the same margin .
Justine Henin booked her place in the third round of the Australian Open after she claimed a 7 - 5 7 - 6 ( 8 - 6 ) victory over fifth seed Elena Dementieva . Fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters came through in straight sets - 6 - 3 , 6 - 3 - in her clash with Thai veteran Tamarine Chan . Third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova recorded a 6 - 2 6 - 2 victory over fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova .