PARIS, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Top seed Justine Henin had to come back from one set down to defeat Emilie Loit of France at the Paris Open on Wednesday.

    Henin, playing her first match since winning last year's season-ending Tour championship in Madrid on Nov. 12, won 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 22 minutes.

    "It's never easy to return to competition. I always have problems. In the first set, I didn't play very well but I was expecting it, then I found a better rhythm," the Belgian said.

    Henin, who lost her world number one spot to Maria Sharapova after skipping the Australian Open for personal reasons, will face Tatiana Golovin or Russian qualifier Ekaterina Bychkova in the quarter-finals.

    Golovin defeated fellow Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday. Bychkova ousted sixth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland on Tuesday.

    In the last game of the day, Russian third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova also struggled before outlasting Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia, ranked 23rd in the world, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in two and a half hours.

    Also on Wednesday, Russian eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze powered through to the second round with a 6-2, 6-0 demolition of compatriot Olga Poutchkova.

    She will meet Anabel Medina Garrigues for a place in the quarter-finals after the Spaniard defeated Frenchwoman Severine Bremond 6-2, 7-5.