Kim Clijsters' hopes of a fairytale finish to her dream season were all but doused on Wednesday as the US Open champion fell in straight sets to Amelie Mauresmo at the WTA Tour Championships.
France's Mauresmo attacked behind a solid serve to beat Clijsters 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), the Belgian's second straight round-robin defeat putting her on the brink of elimination in the elite eight woman season finale.
The 22-year-old, whose nine titles this year include her first career Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows in September, said she felt better than she had in falling to Mary Pierce on Tuesday, but still not as sharp as she should be.
Although she saved two match points in the ninth game of the second set, and clawed back a break in the next game to force the tiebreaker, it wasn't enough.
Mauresmo made good use of her slice backhand and came up with big serves when she needed them most to keep Clijsters at bay.
Now Clijsters's fate hinges not only on her own last round-robin result but also on the other remaining Black Group matches, including yesterday's clash between Mauresmo and Elena Dementieva.
Pierce was at the top of the group after rolling past Russia's Dementieva 6-2, 6-3 to notch her 500th career victory.
Also on the brink of reaching the semifinals was American Lindsay Davenport, who subdued a tenacious Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-3, 7-5.
Davenport led the Green Group with two wins in two matches, her hold on the year-end world No. 1 ranking looking more secure by the minute.
Clijsters had come into the tournament with a chance to complete an unprecedented single-season rise from outside the top 100 to the year-end world No. 1 as she roared back from an injury marred year last year.
But Davenport said that she would have to raise her game against her next opponent, determined Russian Maria Sharapova, after an often frustrating outing against Schnyder.
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