Tough half of Australian draw for Henin

MELBOURNE, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- World No. 1 women's tennis player Justine Henin found herself in a tough draw for the 2008 Australian Open, which opens Monday.

Henin didn't play in the 2007 Grand Slam event for person reasons. Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova in the Australian final last year and both players -- and 2006 titlist Amelie Mauresmo and world No. 3 Jelena Jankovic -- are in the top half of the women's single draw for the 2008 Australian Open.

The top-seeded Henin will open her tournament Aiko Nakamura,

A key possible early round matchup could see Sharapova, seeded fifth, facing the unseeded but resurgent Lindsay Davenport.

With eighth-seeded Venus Williams in the lower half of the draw, there could be an all-Williams final. But Venus Williams who won at Wimbledon last year, would need to survive possible matchups against fourth-seeded Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals.