Down four match points and hobbling on an ankle injury, defending champion Kim Clijsters somehow rallied for a dramatic 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Li Na at the Australian Open yesterday.
Clijsters was in pain from the left ankle she twisted in the seventh game. Li was just a bundle of nerves. The French Open champion failed to serve out the fourth-round match at 5-4 in the second set and then led 6-2 in the tiebreaker, but again Clijsters refused to yield.
“I said in my mind: ‘Keep fighting,’” Clijsters said. “You never know what happens on the other side of the court.”
Photo: EPA
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer stayed on course for a semi-final meeting in matches either side of Clijsters’ win at Rod Laver Arena. Federer ended the run of Australian teenager Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, while Nadal won in straight sets too, beating fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Top women’s seed Caroline Wozniacki ended the day’s play with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Jelena Jankovic and in the next round she is scheduled to play Clijsters, the most unlikely winner of the day.
Li’s best chance to clinch victory — and gain revenge for her three-set loss to Clijsters in last year’s final — came on her fourth match point.
Clijsters played a poor drop shot, giving her opponent the chance to put the ball into the open court. Instead, Li tentatively hit the ball almost straight back to Clijsters, who sent up a perfect lob that dropped just inside the baseline.
Clijsters won six straight points to take the tiebreaker and the first four games of the deciding set.
Clijsters then overcame a wobble of her own, losing her serve at 5-2 in the third set, before finally closing out the fourth-round match on her second match point.
Li broke down in tears at the end of her post-match press conference.
Clijsters was hurt in the first set while serving at 3-3 and 30-30. As she hit a forehand, her left foot got stuck on the surface and her ankle twisted awkwardly.
She got up to finish the point, but then immediately called for the trainer and had the injury strapped.
Clijsters’ movement was clearly slowed when she resumed, but playing in her last Australian Open before quitting tennis at the end of the season, she said she did not want to bow out in Melbourne with a retirement.
“I knew if I could just try to let the medication sink in or if I could get through the first 20 minutes, half hour, I think the pain would go away a little bit and then maybe with the adrenaline I could just fly through it,” she said.
Federer has not lost to a teenager since 2006 and that run continued as he disappointed the home crowd with a comprehensive win over 19-year-old Tomic.
Tomic had beaten seeded players Fernando Verdasco and Alexandr Dolgopolov Jr in earlier rounds, but Federer was a step up in class. The 16-time Grand Slam champion broke six times as he set up a quarter-final against 11th seed Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.
“I thought I played a really good match,” said Federer, through to his 31st straight Grand Slam quarter-final.
“I knew I had to. Anything else wouldn’t have done the job tonight,” he said.
Nadal was almost as convincing in his win over Lopez.
The 2009 champion had his right knee heavily strapped and had his left ankle taped after three games of the first set, but afterward said he was “fine.”
Nadal is scheduled to play Tomas Berdych next. Berdych beat Nicolas Almagro of Spain 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2). Former US Open champion del Potro easily defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.
Berdych was booed by the crowd on Hisense Arena after he refused to shake hands with Almagro. The sixth-seeded Czech was upset that Almagro had hit the ball straight at him while he was at the net during the fourth set.
Third seed Azarenka was the first player to reach the quarter-finals when she beat Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-2.
In the first round of the mixed doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Marcin Matkowski of Poland defeated Nadia Petrova of Russia and Brazil’s Marcelo Melo 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 10-5.
In the junior boys’ singles first round, Taiwan’s Ho Chih-jen was beaten by Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Additional reporting by staff writer
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care