Kim Clijsters’ fairytale return to Grand Slam tennis came to a shuddering halt at the Australian Open yesterday just as Justine Henin’s own comeback started to gather momentum.
Clijsters was dumped from the first Slam of the year after losing 6-0, 6-1 to Russia’s Nadia Petrova. The result was shocking enough but the scoreline defied all expectations, coming just four months after the Belgian won the US Open.
Statistics can sometimes be misleading but the numbers in this match accurately summed up a thrashing. Clijsters won just five points in the first set and made 26 unforced errors in total. It was all over in 52 minutes.
“She was good but I made all the mistakes and she didn’t have to do that much. It just sucks it has to happen at this stage of this tournament,” Clijsters said.
“This is something probably you want to forget as soon as possible and go home,” she said.
No one was more surprised by Clijsters’ meek performance than Petrova.
“I was preparing myself for a long day and a long match,” she said. “It might have been a three setter.”
Clijsters’ loss overshadowed a special milestone by her compatriot and long-time rival Henin, who beat Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova 3-6 6-4 6-2, marking her 500th career win.
Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick all won their matches with comparative ease but Rafa Nadal needed three and a half hours to beat dogged German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
The defending champion eventually won 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 and meets Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic in the fourth round.
US Open champion Del Potro showed no lingering effects of his epic five-set second round win over James Blake during his 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over German Florian Mayer.
Roddick recovered from a set down to defeat Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6. The American will next play Fernando Gonzalez of Chile after the 2007 Australian Open runner-up outlasted Evgeny Korolev 6-7, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Murray overcame a minor injury scare and more questions about his serve to beat Florent Serra of France 7-5 6-1, 6-4.
“I don’t think my serve is an issue at all,” he said. “Everyone is panicking about my serve.”
Murray’s next opponent is John Isner, the 2.06m American, whose main weapon is not hard to guess.
He thumped 26 aces past Gael Monfils in his 6-1, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 win over the Frenchman to lift his total for the championship to 81.
Henin’s win over Kleybanova was not her best performance at Melbourne Park this week but enough to thrust her into the fourth round against Yanina Wickmayer, another Belgian.
Henin would have to win another four matches to claim the title but the question is already being asked. Can she possibly win the Australian Open in her second event out of retirement?
Her next opponent could provide some of the answers. Wickmayer sealed her place in the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 win against Italy’s Sara Errani and will give Henin a stern test.
Wickmayer made the US Open semi-finals last year and is ranked 16 in the world but was overlooked for the seedings and forced to come through qualifying because she was under suspension when the registrations for the Australian Open closed.
Dinara Safina and Maria Kirilenko will play each other in an all-Russian fourth-round clash tomorrow.
Safina defeated Britain’s Elena Baltacha 6-1, 6-2 in less than an hour and is slipping through the draw almost unnoticed even though she made the final in Australia last year and is ranked No. 2 in the world.
Kirilenko matched her best performance at a Grand Slam when she beat Italy’s Roberta Vinci 7-5, 7-6, showing that her first round win over Maria Sharapova was no fluke.
Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko also advanced, beating Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-3 and extending the former world No. 1’s poor run in Grand Slams over the past year.
Taiwanese players enjoyed mixed fortunes in the second round of the women’s doubles.
No. 4 seeds Hsieh Su-wei and China’s Peng Shuai enjoyed a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Polish pair Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska.
Meanwhile, 12th seeds Chuang Chia-jung and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic lost 3-6, 4-6 to Sally Peers of Australia and 16-year-old Laura Robson of Great Britain.
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