MELBOURNE, Jan 14, 2008 - World number one and top seed Justine Henin admitted it would be tough to live up to the tennis world's expectations after a straight sets win in the Australian Open first round Monday.

　　The Belgian enjoyed a stellar 2007, claiming the US and French Opens, becoming the most dominant player on the women's circuit since Steffi Graf and the first to win more than five million dollars in prize money in a year.

　　But she said it would be difficult to top last year's performance, moving to douse the expectations that have made her red-hot favourite to claim her first Australian Open since 2004.

　　"I want to get better, I want to improve but you have to start again all the time," she said.

　　"Every tournament is different and every day you have to give your best and pay attention to all the little details.

　　"A Grand Slam, it's tough and it's long. You need to be consistent, at your best all the time, so that's not very easy."

　　Henin admitted to some nerves as she began her Australian Open campaign with an tough workout against Japan's Aiko Nakamura, saying she struggled to find her rhythm in windy conditions before downing her opponent 6-2, 6-2.

　　"The first round is not my favorite one, so I'm glad it's behind me now," she said.

　　The win took the Belgian's unbeaten run to 29 matches, a series stretching back to the Wimbledon semi-final last July.

　　Henin said her recent success put her in a positive frame of mind but she had to concentrate on the future.

　　"It's been the best season of my career so far but I'm really focused on this tournament now," she said.

　　"What I did last year is in the past but it gave me a lot of joy and a lot of experience and I hope I can use it this year."

　　The seven-time Grand Slam champion missed the 2005 Australian Open with injury, controversially withdrew from the 2006 final with a stomach complaint and was again absent last year as her marriage broke down.

　　Henin said thoughts of conceding the 2006 final to Amelie Mauresmo entered her thoughts as she walked out onto centre court but she refused to dwell on them.

　　"I cannot really tell you it didn't come in my mind but I didn't stay on this feeling," she said.

　　"I just want to play as many matches as I can on this center court again, and I hope it's going to be a good week for me."

　　While Henin never looked like losing to Nakamura, she was forced to step up her game to overcome the gritty Japanese, ranked number 73 in the world.

　　"She played a really good match and was really aggressive and I realy needed a little bit of time to get used to the conditions and the rhythm," Henin said

　　Henin broke Nakamura in the first game but Nakamura broke back before the Belgian asserted herself to take the first set 6-2 in 39 minutes.

　　There was some consolation for Nakamura in the fact that she managed to take four games from Henin and held off the world's top player for almost an hour and a half.

　　She was on the wrong end of a dreaded "double bagel" 6-0, 6-0 thrashing in the pair's only previous meeting at Indian Wells in 2006.