TENNIS in DEPTH.

Justine Henin celebrated her French Open comeback with a straight-sets win after coming through a tricky first-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova. She did not display the form she will need to capture her fifth French Open title, and will have problems reaching the second week’s rounds.

Playing at Roland Garros for the first time since completing a hat-trick of singles title wins in 2007, the four-time champion showed only glimpses of her scintillating best on Philippe Chatrier Court and struggled on serve throughout.

But she did enough to seal a 6-4 6-3 victory in one hour 29 minutes and set up a second-round meeting with Katarina Srebotnik or Klara Zakopalova.

Former world number one Henin, who decided to end her 16-month retirement in September last year, was technically on a 21-match winning streak at Roland Garros, having not lost there since 2004.

The Belgian 22nd seed had also won her last 35 sets in the tournament, a statistic she had more than a little difficulty extending to 37 on Tuesday.

Bulgaria’s world number 81 was far from overawed by her esteemed opponent, who she had actually taken a set from the last time they had met in 2008.

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