seeded Justine Henin made a successful return to grass after a three-year absence by beating Germany's Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-2 Monday in the first round of the Unicef Open. Henin's last match on the surface was a defeat in the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2007 but she was a comfortable winner over Kerber at a tournament she won in 2001 and was runnerup two years later. The Belgian player, who resumed her career in January after spending 20 months in retirement, accepted a wild card to tune up for Wimbledon, which begins a week on Monday and remains the only Grand Slam event she has never won. Serbia's Ana Ivanovic recovered from a slow start to beat Sofia Arvidsson 4-6, 6-0, 6-1, while third-seeded Maria Kirilenko eased past Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-4, 6-1. Fifth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania struggled to hold off French qualifier Julie Coin, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), and Dutch wild card Arantxa Rus eliminated No. 8-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. On the men's side, Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands ousted compatriot and sixth-seeded Thiemo de Bakker 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) and Belgium's Xavier Malisse defeated Rajeev Ram of the US 6-3, 6-2. Ram had come into the draw as a lucky loser after replacing fifth-seeded Philipp Petzschner, who withdrew with a hip injury. France's Arnaud Clement defeated Simon Stadler of Germany, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, and Henri Kontinen of Finland beat Jamaican qualifier Dustin Brown 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (5). On Sunday, second seed Dinara Safina suffered a first round upset by Magdalena Rybarikova 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, in the first round of the event. In other matches, Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia beat British teenager Laura Robson 6-3, 6-4, and Andrea Petkovic of Germany defeated Petra Kvitova from the Chech Republic 6-3, 7-6 (6). In the men's tournament, Colombian Alejandro Falla beat Florent Serra of France 6-4, 6-4, and will next face top seed Ivan Ljbicic. Simon Greul of Germany defeated Dutchman Robin Haase 7-5, 7-6 (5). Stosur beats Oudin In Eastbourne, Australia's Samantha Stosur, playing for the first time since her defeat by Francesca Schiavone in the French Open final, struggled to a 6-4, 6-4 victory over American Melanie Oudin at the Aegon International Monday. Eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France also struggled, eventually overcoming Russia's Vera Dushevina 6-4, 7-5. In the men's event, third-seeded Gilles Simon of France made a successful return to the court from a knee injury. Playing his first match since March, Simon claimed his first victory of the season by outlasting Russia's Evgeny Korolev 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-4. American James Blake failed to match Simon on his comeback and was beaten 7-6 (3), 7-5 by fourth-seeded Julien Benneteau of France. In other matches, sixth-seeded Horacio Zeballos of Argentina edged Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 and eighth-seeded Frenchman Michael Llodra overwhelmed Germany's Martin Emmrich 6-0, 6
