Belgians' return turns everything upside down Down Under

MELBOURNE, Australia – In her Grand Slam comeback, Kim Clijsters upset Serena Williams en route to claiming the US Open title.

Williams was really, really upset in that semifinal last September, so much that it cost her the match and a record fine.

Four months later, the return of another Belgian from a premature retirement has bolstered the field at the Australian Open and created a compelling women’s draw in the year’s first Grand Slam tournament.

Justine Henin, who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles and quit in May 2008 while holding the No. 1 ranking, is only one tournament into her comeback, but is hoping to emulate Clijsters’ successful return to the majors.

Again, Williams is the defending champion.

While the men’s champion at Melbourne Park is widely expected to come from the group of top five players led by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – who’ve won the last three Australian titles – the list of women’s contenders is growing.

Clijsters, a former world No. 1 who married US basketball player Brian Lynch and gave birth to daughter Jada during two years away from tennis, has quickly regained her form. She has won two titles in five tournaments, including the upset of Williams.

Upset being an understatement.

It was a profanity-laced, finger-pointing tantrum directed at a line judge in a semifinal loss to Clijsters at the US Open that cost Williams a record fine of $82,500. She also faces suspension from the US Open if she has any serious outbursts at a major in the next two years.

Williams, winner of 11 Grand Slam singles titles, doesn’t want to talk about that anymore, saying after her arrival in Australia that she’d discussed the outburst enough. After almost two months off, it was time to focus on tennis.

“No matter what, I have to be at my best, because whenever I play these young ... ladies,” Williams said, “they’re always at their best.”

Besides Clijsters and Henin, who has no ranking and is playing as a wild card entry, Maria Sharapova is in the mix this year. In an intriguing draw Friday, Serena and Venus Williams both finished on the top half – meaning a possible semifinal meeting. On the other side are Belgians Henin and Clijsters and Russians Sharapova, No. 2 Dinara Safina, No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova, the French Open champion, and No. 5 Elena Dementieva. Henin could face Olympic gold medalist Dementieva in the second round and Clijsters in the quarters.

Sharapova won the 2008 Australian Open, but was unable to defend her title last year after right shoulder surgery kept her off the tour for almost 10 months.

Despite all the challengers aiming for her title, Williams considers her sister Venus, seeded sixth, her main competition.

They’re seeded to meet in the quarterfinals. Serena is 13-10 against her older sibling in WTA Tour matches, including victories last year in the finals at Wimbledon and the season-ending tour championship.

When Serena Williams takes the court, however, the world’s No. 1 player believes she’s really only competing against herself.

“You know, I don’t care who I play. Whenever I play someone they play their best,” she said this week en route to the Sydney International final. “So whoever I play, believe me, they’re going to play like No. 1 on that particular day against me for whatever reason.”   (AP)