Clijsters out of Australian Open

Reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters was humiliated 6-0, 6-1 in just 52 minutes by Russia’s 19th seeded Nadia Petrova in the third round of the Australian Open.

By (AFP)

Published: Fri 22 Jan 2010, 3:52 PM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 8:58 AM

The Belgian was a shadow of her normal self as Petrova totally dominated a one-sided match to the dismay of most of the fans at Melbourne Park’s Hisense Arena.

From the moment this year’s Australian Open began, all the talk has been about the return to Grand Slam tennis of Clijsters and countrywoman Justine Henin.

But while Henin scraped through against Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova earlier in the day, a shellshocked Clijsters was blown off court by the powerful Russian who scored her first win over the Belgian in five meetings.

Petrova raced through the first set in only 18 minutes, with Clijsters winning a measly five points in the first six games.

The second set was not much better for the Belgian world number 15, who only got on the scoreboard in the fourth game when she at last managed to hold her serve.

However, that was merely a tiny stumble for the 28-year-old Muscovite, who promptly held her own serve then broke Clijsters for the fifth time in the match to open an unassailable 5-1 lead.

Petrova showed no signs of nerves as she served for the match and despite Clijsters saving two match points, she couldn’t save the third and the Russian was through to a fourth round meeting with either fellow countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova or German Angelique Kerber.

The loss was a sad end to the tournament for the much-loved Clijsters, who came back to tennis midway through last year after getting married and having a baby.

She capped her comeback with a sensational triumph at September’s US Open, then added the Brisbane International to her trophy cabinet in the first week of 2010, beating Henin in a magnificent three-set final.

Henin had defeated Petrova in straight sets in the first round of the Brisbane tournament, but it was a very different Russian on Friday as she served with accuracy and power and barely missed a shot.

Petrova has now made the fourth round at the Australian Open for her third straight year, while it is Clijsters’ earliest exit since she first played in Melbourne 10 years ago and lost in the first round.