Kim Clijsters’ career comeback continued to gather momentum yesterday with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Australia’s Alicia Molik at the Brisbane International.
Top-seeded Clijsters won the first eight games in the second-round match until Molik, playing her first top-tier tournament since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, held serve.
Clijsters won the US Open last September in only her third tournament back from more than two years in retirement, becoming the first mother to win a Grand Slam singles title since Evonne Goolagong Cawley at Wimbledon in 1980.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Clijsters’ title inspired a comeback by fellow Belgian and former No. 1 Justine Henin, who won her first tour match since May 2008 on Monday against second-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia.
Having Clijsters and Henin on the opposite ends of the draw sets up the possibility of an intriguing all-Belgian final in Brisbane in the lead up to the Australian Open, which starts on Jan. 18 in Melbourne.
Former No. 1 Ivanovic struggled in a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win over Timea Bacsinszky in a late match to reach the quarter-finals.
After dropping the second set, Ivanovic started aggressively in the third by winning the first seven points to hold serve and then earn triple break point. But Bacsinszky rallied to hold and the deciding set remained on serve.
Ivanovic was serving for the match at 5-3 in the third and was two points away at 30-30 but was broken.
In the next game, she earned triple match point with a forehand winner and converted with a forehand winner down the line to finish the match in 1 hour, 41 minutes.
On the men’s side, third-seeded Gael Monfils edged American Taylor Dent 7-6 (1), 6-7 (5), 6-2 in a night match that didn’t feature a service break until the fifth game of the third set.
James Blake continued his dominance over fifth-seeded Sam Querrey, improving to 6-1 in head-to-heads with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over his fellow American.
In other first-round matches, 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus beat American Mardy Fish 7-5, 7-5 and will next face fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Australian qualifier Nick Lindahl.
Australia’s Carsten Ball had a 7-5, 6-1 win over Germany’s Mischa Zverev to set up a match against top-seeded Andy Roddick for a place in the quarter-finals.
■QATAR OPEN
AFP, DOHA
Rafael Nadal, who played mock tennis with Roger Federer on a suspended “magic” carpet, was on Monday given a slightly easier path to the final of the opening tournament of what could be a transformative season.
Though Spain’s Australian Open champion looked relaxed and happy while performing with his great rival in the middle of a local souq (commercial quarter) on Sunday, he has not won a tournament for nearly nine months since struggling with injuries.
However, Nadal was to start this year’s ATP World Tour yesterday with a comfortable-looking draw in the Qatar Open against Simone Bolelli, the world No. 93 from Italy — and with his projected semi-final opponent suddenly removed.
Nadal has made it clear he would like to end his title drought this week, though to do that he will probably have to overcome Federer, who succeeded him both as French Open and Wimbledon champion, in Saturday’s showdown — on a ground-level court.
Before that Federer could conceivably have a semi-final against a familiar and dangerous foe — Ivo Karlovic. The Croatian beat Fabio Fognini, a young Italian pushing toward the top 50, by 6-4, 6-4, Karlovic securing in both sets early breaks of serve which had a huge psychological effect upon the encounter.
■AUCKLAND CLASSIC
REUTERS AND AFP, AUCKLAND
Israel’s Shahar Peer shrugged off a protest at her presence and a security scare that forced the evacuation of the venue to advance to the second round of the Auckland Classic yesterday.
A small group of people carrying placards and chanting against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians mingled outside the Auckland Tennis Centre before Peer took to Court Four for her first round match against Slovenia’s Polona Hercog.
Prior to play starting, an unattended bag by a spectator provoked a full-blown security scare forcing the evacuation of the venue before police and security staff discovered there was no threat.
Police later said there was no link between the protest and the security scare.
Peer, who faced similar protests at last year’s tournament, wasted little time in advancing to the second round with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Hercog and said while she had seen the protest when she arrived, would not be dissuaded.
Second seed Li Na of China was the big first-round casualty yesterday after a straight-sets thrashing by unseeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi. The Chinese world No. 15 admitted to being overwhelmed by Kanepi in the 6-1, 6-3 mauling.
New Zealand’s sole remaining hope, Marina Erakovic, made a hasty departure, falling 6-4, 6-3 to Frenchwoman Alize Cornet.
■CHENNAI OPEN
REUTERS, CHENNAI, INDIA
Swedish world No. 8 Robin Soderling lost 6-4, 7-5 to American Robby Ginepri in the Chennai Open first round yesterday.
Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun suffered a 6-4, 6-3 defeat at the hands of Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, while Robin Haase of the Netherlands beat Lu’s compatriot Yang Tsung-hua, also 6-4, 6-3.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
■HOPMAN CUP
AP, PERTH, AUSTRALIA
Spain remained unbeaten at the Hopman Cup after defeating Romania yesterday on Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez’s singles win and an injury retirement by Victor Hanescu.
Martinez Sanchez gave Spain a 1-0 lead with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Sorana Cirstea. In men’s singles, Tommy Robredo of Spain had won the first set 6-3 when Hanescu quit with a hamstring strain and groin injury.
Spain, which now has two victories in the group and is favored to make the final, completed a 3-0 result against Romania when Hanescu’s injury forced him out of the mixed doubles.
Earlier, Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur beat their US opponents in straight sets in singles to eliminate the five-time champion US from final contention.
Hewitt beat John Isner 6-1, 7-5 while Stosur defeated Melanie Oudin 6-2, 6-4 to give Australia the win. The Americans won the later mixed doubles, 2-6, 6-1, 10-5 for a 2-1 final scoreline.
Australia now has a win and a loss in the group, while the Americans slumped to 0-2.
Russia and Britain, each 1-0, play their Group B matches today. The British, led by Andy Murray, take on Germany, while Russia play Kazakhstan.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but