Justine Henin arrived in Indian Wells as a title favorite, but on Friday the former world number one crashed out in only the second round to Argentina’s Gisela Dulko.
Dulko, who lost to Henin in the 2006 Indian Wells quarterfinals, dispatched the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s most famous wild card 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.
Despite the loss, as Henin has competed in three tournaments since coming back to the Tour, she will now return to the Tour’s rankings.
She is projected to re-appear in the Top 35 when the new rankings are released on March 22.
Seventh seed Na Li was also ousted in three sets on Friday. Britain’s Elena Baltacha outlasted the Chinese star 7-6(6), 2-6, 7-6(7).
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Yes! Dulko has always been one of my favorites and always knew she was a talented player. Her defeat of Henin indicates that she’s realizing her potential more and more. God bless and vamos Gisela!
Uh-oh for Justine. She’ll bounce back – that’s for sure. She and Martina (and of course Lindsay and Steffi) were superb in the recent Hit for Haiti Part 2 exhibition. Allez!
Great win for Dulko – and for Justine, she should just stay confident and never forget that she is already a legend. She doesn’t need to prove anything to anybody except for herself.
I was happy to see her out with Martina hitting for Haiti – that was probably the best thing for her after a tough loss.
I like both players but I don’t know that this means Dulko is getting better. Dulko seems to be inconsistent. If she could get consistent in her play then she would rise greatly in the rankings. I hope that these kinds of victories will help her mentality. As far as Justine, her game will take more time than say, Clijsters. Justine is retooling her game to save her body from injury. She reached the finals in Miami in 2007 and almost beat Serena so hopefully she will have fond memories of that and do well. A lot of women to watch, a lot of favorites to root for.