AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Venue: Melbourne Park Date: 18-31 January
BBC coverage: Every Murray match live on BBC 1 or 2
Daily from 0830 GMT: live on BBC Red Button/website, 5 Live sports extra
Daily from 0000 GMT: text commentary on BBC Sport website
 Clijsters produced some poor tennis and failed to last even an hour |
Kim Clijsters suffered a humbling third-round defeat while Justine Henin narrowly avoided the same fate at the Australian Open. Clijsters, one of the favourites to win the title, was thrashed by 19th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-0 6-1 in only 52 minutes. Fellow Belgian Henin fought back from a set down to see off Russian Alisa Kleybanova 3-6 6-4 6-2. And eighth seed Jelena Jankovic lost 6-2 6-3 to 31st seed Alona Bondarenko. Clijsters, 26, an emotional winner of the US Open last year in only her third tournament back after a two-year sabbatical, won only five points in an 18-minute opening set, in which she ran up 17 unforced errors.  | 606: DEBATE |
The 15th seed finally held her serve in the 10th game of the match but quickly succumbed to defeat. It tarnished a previously impressive record for the former world number one, who had reached the semi-finals or better at her five previous trips to the Australian Open. "I was completely off. I think tennis-wise, I didn't feel the ball at all," Clijsters said. "On the other hand, she was good, but I made all the mistakes and she really didn't have to do much. It's something you don't want to happen too often. "It sucks that it has to happen at this stage of this tournament. That's sports - it can happen." In only her second tournament after a 20-month break from competitive tennis, Henin looked weary at the start, which was not surprising considering her three-hour epic victory over fifth seed Elena Dementieva in the second round. The former number one was swept all around the court in the opening set and after being broken at the start of the second a swift exit seemed the most likely outcome.  Thigh's the limit: Maria Kirilenko faces Dinara Safina in the fourth round |
However, 27th seed Kleybanova, allowed her opponent to break back and lost the set with a sloppy double fault. With the crowd growing more noisy, both players raised their game and it was the Belgian who thrived on the atmosphere and took full advantage of the tiring Russian by flying into a 3-0 lead. The topsy-turvy nature of the match continued with Kleybanova clawing back two successive games, but a determined Henin stayed focused to complete a fine recovery and register her 500th career win. Her next match will be against compatriot Yanina Wickmayer for a place in the quarter-finals. Wickmayer needed painkillers for a back injury as she beat Italy's Sara Errani 6-1 6-7 6-3 in her third round tie, and faces further treatment ahead of her match with Henin. China's Zheng Jie rallied from a set down to upset 11th seed Marion Bartoli of France. The unseeded Zheng looked looked to be in trouble after losing the opening set, but hit back in the second and the third was a romp as she went through 5-7 6-3 6-0 to set up a meeting with Bondarenko. Maria Kirilenko, the conqueror of fellow Russian Maria Sharapova in the first round, beat Roberta Vinci of Italy 7-5 7-6 (7-4). She seemed fairly relaxed about her next opponent, Dinara Safina, saying "I think Sharapova hits it harder than Safina, so I am prepared for sure." And third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova fought back to edge out plucky German qualifier Angelique Kerber 3-6 7-5 6-3 in a match that finished at 0143 local time. Kuznetsova was up a break in the final set before left-hander Kerber levelled at 4-4 with a fine forehand winner. The 24-year-old Russian broke serve again in the ninth game and, despite committing 39 unforced errors in the match, held in the next to clinch victory. The French Open champion, who has never progressed beyond the quarter-finals in eight previous appearances in the Championship, will now play Petrova in the fourth round.
| 
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?