PERTH, Australia (AP) Seven-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin downed Sesil Karantatcheva of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday to give Belgium a 1-0 lead in the Hopman Cup.
The 21-year-old Karantatcheva was brought in overnight to replace Yaroslava Shvedova, who withdrew with a knee injury sustained during her match against Ana Ivanovic on Sunday.
Karantatcheva, who reached the French Open quarterfinals in 2005 before serving a two-year ban for testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone, rallied briefly to go 3-1 up in the second set. Henin bounced back to take the set and continue her winning record for 2011.
Belgium's Ruben Bemelmans was scheduled to meet Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan in the second singles match later Tuesday.