Two-time runner-up Kim Clijsters was upset in the second round Thursday at the French Open.
The second-seeded former world No. 1 started off her match against 114th- ranked Arantxa Rus with a first-set win.
However, the Dutch 20-year-old battled back to take the second set, then cruised to victory in the third for a stunning 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 triumph at Roland Garros.
"I started doubting a little bit," said Clijsters, who had been riding a 15- match Grand Slam winning streak. "When you start doubting yourself on any surface, but for me definitely on clay, it's the wrong attitude to have."
This was the Clijsters' first tennis action since late March, as she had been sidelined with ankle, shoulder and wrist injuries. The four-time major titlist, playing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2006, reached finals here back in 2001 and 2003.
A sloppy Clijsters piled up 65 unforced errors and lost 11 of the last 12 games of her match on Day 5. Rus only had eight winners all day.
"My ankle feels fine, so that has absolutely nothing to do with it," Clijsters said. "If I felt like I wasn't ready as much as I would have liked to be, I wouldn't have come here. If I wasn't feeling like I was able to play tough matches, then I wouldn't have made that decision to come here."
Clijsters blew two match points in the setback.
The Belgian stalwart had her first chance to finish off Rus while leading 5-2 in the second set, only to see the 2008 Australian Open junior champion save match point, and enjoyed another opportunity while leading 5-4, but was unable to convert.
"She obviously started building up more confidence, started playing a lot better and was really kind of putting me on my back foot all the time. I couldn't really play my aggressive tennis anymore in that third set," Clijsters said.
Clijsters, who injured her right ankle while dancing at her cousin's wedding last month, was going for her third Grand Slam title in a row after winning the Australian Open in January and taking the U.S. Open championship for a third time last September.
Sixth-seeded Aussie Open runner-up Li Na of China cruised with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Spain's Silvia Soler-Espinosa, while ninth-seeded Czech Petra Kvitova had no problems in her match against Chinese Jie Zheng, posting a 6-4, 6-1 decision. Li became the first-ever Asian player to reach a Grand Slam final back in January. The lefthanded Kvitova, a three-time winner already on the WTA this season, was a Wimbledon semifinalist last year.
Twelfth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska notched a 6-2, 6-4 win over Indian Sania Mirza, while 15th-seeded German Andrea Petkovic handled Czech Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, and 21st-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer advanced with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Japan's Ayumi Morita. Petkovic is fresh off her clay-court title in Strasbourg last week.
Meanwhile, 25th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko doused South African Chanelle Scheepers 6-1, 6-4 and Sorana Cirstea upended 27th-seeded fellow Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 6-2, 7-5.
In second-round action not involving seeds, American Vania King came back to beat Britain's Elena Baltacha 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and Taipei's Yung-Jan Chan dismissed 36-year-old American Jill Craybas 6-1, 6-4.
The second-seeded former world No. 1 started off her match against 114th- ranked Arantxa Rus with a first-set win.
"I started doubting a little bit," said Clijsters, who had been riding a 15- match Grand Slam winning streak. "When you start doubting yourself on any surface, but for me definitely on clay, it's the wrong attitude to have."
This was the Clijsters' first tennis action since late March, as she had been sidelined with ankle, shoulder and wrist injuries. The four-time major titlist, playing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2006, reached finals here back in 2001 and 2003.
A sloppy Clijsters piled up 65 unforced errors and lost 11 of the last 12 games of her match on Day 5. Rus only had eight winners all day.
"My ankle feels fine, so that has absolutely nothing to do with it," Clijsters said. "If I felt like I wasn't ready as much as I would have liked to be, I wouldn't have come here. If I wasn't feeling like I was able to play tough matches, then I wouldn't have made that decision to come here."
Clijsters blew two match points in the setback.
The Belgian stalwart had her first chance to finish off Rus while leading 5-2 in the second set, only to see the 2008 Australian Open junior champion save match point, and enjoyed another opportunity while leading 5-4, but was unable to convert.
"She obviously started building up more confidence, started playing a lot better and was really kind of putting me on my back foot all the time. I couldn't really play my aggressive tennis anymore in that third set," Clijsters said.
Clijsters, who injured her right ankle while dancing at her cousin's wedding last month, was going for her third Grand Slam title in a row after winning the Australian Open in January and taking the U.S. Open championship for a third time last September.
Sixth-seeded Aussie Open runner-up Li Na of China cruised with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Spain's Silvia Soler-Espinosa, while ninth-seeded Czech Petra Kvitova had no problems in her match against Chinese Jie Zheng, posting a 6-4, 6-1 decision. Li became the first-ever Asian player to reach a Grand Slam final back in January. The lefthanded Kvitova, a three-time winner already on the WTA this season, was a Wimbledon semifinalist last year.
Twelfth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska notched a 6-2, 6-4 win over Indian Sania Mirza, while 15th-seeded German Andrea Petkovic handled Czech Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, and 21st-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer advanced with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Japan's Ayumi Morita. Petkovic is fresh off her clay-court title in Strasbourg last week.
Meanwhile, 25th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko doused South African Chanelle Scheepers 6-1, 6-4 and Sorana Cirstea upended 27th-seeded fellow Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 6-2, 7-5.
In second-round action not involving seeds, American Vania King came back to beat Britain's Elena Baltacha 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and Taipei's Yung-Jan Chan dismissed 36-year-old American Jill Craybas 6-1, 6-4.
No comments:
Post a Comment