INDIAN WELLS (California), March 9: Third seed Justine Henin clawed her way into the third round of the Indian Wells Masters Friday, rallying to beat Slovenia’s Maja Matevzic 5-7 6-4 6-4.

Belgian Henin, beaten in two finals this season by world number one Venus Williams, had just as many problems with the 73rd ranked Matevzic, needing over two hours in the desert sun to tame the lefthander.

With the opening set heading towards a tie-break Matevzic cracked a perfect passing shot down the line out of reach of the lunging Henin to take the first set.

In the second set it was a battling Henin who claimed the decisive break with a hammering forehand, going up 5-4 and then holding serve to extend the contest.

The Belgian carried the momentum into the third set breaking Matevzic at the first opportunity but Matevzic refused to fold breaking back to level the match at 4-4.

Matevzic looked in control as she powered to a 40-0 lead in the next game but Henin dug in to get the break back and then serve out the match.

Led by eighth seed Elena Dementieva it was a perfect day for the Russian contingent with all four players seeing action marching safely through to the next round.

Dementieva recovered from a second set lapse to down American Amy Frazier 6-3 1-6 6-3.

Also collecting second round wins were Anastasia Myskina, Elena Likhovtseva and Tatiana Panova.

The only seeded casualty of the day was a minor one, Zimbabwe’s Cara Black disposing of number 23 Cristina Torrens Valero of Spain 6-4 6-1.

SECOND ROUND RESULTS