Belgium's Kim Clijsters went off to a winning start to the New Year as she overpowered Italian Tathiana Garbin 6-2, 6-1 in the first round of the Brisbane International WTA event on Sunday.

The reigning U.S. Open champion faced three break points in the opening game of the match but fought back to take the lead and overcome her rival in just 53 minutes.

Clijsters, the top-seeded woman at the joint WTA-ATP tournament, will next face the winner of Sunday's first-round match between Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Australian Alicia Molik.

On Monday, Justine Henin, the former No. 1 who is making a return to official tournament play after 20 months in retirement, takes on second-seeded Nadia Petrova.