Clijsters beats fellow Belgian Henin
No. 8 Kim Clijsters has defeated No. 17 Justine Henin 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Ladies’ Singles Tournament. Clijsters secured herself a spot in round four by beating her fellow Belgian after a lousy start to the match, where she was trailing Henin in uncharacteristic fashion. The longstanding rivalry between the two women went in favour of Clijsters, unfortunately for Henin, who reportedly came out of retirement specifically with the goal of winning the elusive grass court title in 2010.
Clijsters regained her composure during the second set, slowly erasing the ill-effects of being down the first set. Getting a break early and continuing to lead for the remainder of the match, Clijsters added a second break to Henin’s serve, forcing Henin to lose momentum and taking control of the match from that point onwards.
Both women showcased exciting tennis, and demonstrated their best plays early in the third set, but it was ultimately Clijsters who secured the set’s one and only break in game eight. Clijsters dictated the game with her penetrating shots, and proceeded to serve out the set with a score of 6-3 to gain victory of the match.
Although Henin dominated the first set while suffering an arm injury in a terrible fall, Clijsters eventually found her form in the second set, where she unflinchingly led the game on her own terms, much to the chagrin of Henin.
Clijsters managed to stay in control of a much tighter third set, finally claiming a 2-6 6-2 6-3 victory following her success in the fourth round against Henin. Clijsters thus advanced past the woman who defeated her in the semi-finals in their previous Wimbledon match up that occurred several years ago back in 2006.
The last time Clijsters played here was in 2006, when she suffered a loss to Henin in the semi-finals, although edging a close battle against her compatriot. Mirroring the events of Monday’s Wimbledon match, Henin also suffered a fall at that time in their opening set, and appeared to cause some damage to her right wrist.
After the opening two sets were played in slightly less than an hour, Clijsters made the important breakthrough in the eighth game of the decider, with Henin unable to answer as the number eight seed sealed the win when Henin’s forehand return went amiss into the net. Henin’s characteristic dangerous baseline game was lacking efficiency throughout the game, evidently letting her down against Clijsters.
Clijsters will now go on to play Vera Zvonareva, 21st seeded Russian, to secure herself a place in the semi-finals.
Having done an impressive job during her two opening matches at Wimbledon this year, Clijsters said: “I feel that I'm definitely playing probably my best tennis that I've played on grass, you know, compared to even a few years ago.”
Henin to retire again?
The loss will certainly be tough to accept for Henin, who has confirmed that her main reason for coming back into the game from retirement was to have another opportunity at winning Wimbledon. Losing in a less than brilliant performance to a player such as Clijsters is surely a sore defeat, especially since Henin has previously commandeered Clijsters in their Grand Slam face offs. It is too early to tell whether Henin will continue her efforts towards winning the one Grand Slam that she is missing from her list of victories.
Both Clijsters and Henin are world class players, and both are natives of Belgium. Their path towards Wimbledon 2010 is not without similarities, with Clijsters and Henin both retiring from the sport before coming back to vie for the elusive Wimbledon trophy.
Tags: