Fed Cup: Kim Clijsters leads Belgium to victory over US
Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters led her Belgian squad to a victory over the US team in the Fed Cup World Group. The Belgians simply outplayed the Americans, settling the final score at 4-1 and advancing to the semi-final of the Fed Cup.
The American squad was lacking the expertise of the Williams sisters as both Serena and Venus Williams have been sidelined from professional tennis because of their persistent injuries. Former world number one Justine Henin of Belgium had also retired from the game of tennis last month, leaving Kim Clijsters to lead the Belgian team.
The home team took early advantage in the competition right from the starting day, with Clijsters and Wickmayer winning their individual reverse singles matches Saturday. With an astounding lead of 2-0 in the contest, the Belgians needed just one more match win to book a place in the semi-final.
The spotlight of the second day was the singles thriller between Kim Clijsters and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Yanina Wickmayer had already defeated Mattek-Sands in her Saturday’s match. The American was in a must-win situation to keep her side alive in the competition and she threw everything she had in her bag at Clijsters. She was serving for the set at 5-4 when Clijsters bounced back to break her serve and then drag the set into a decisive tie breaker. The Aussie Open champion had a brilliant contest with her resilient opponent and after a display of high quality tennis, the tie-breaker ended to the American’s favour at 6-7 (10).
The Grand Slam winner made a fierce comeback in the next set and simply blew away the American. She didn’t give a chance to her opponent, quickly grabbing the second set at 6-2. Clijsters carried on her momentum in the decider. She broke the rival’s serve immediately and kept pressurizing her to commit errors throughout the set. A faultless display of high-quality tennis sealed victory for the Belgian at 6-1, extending the aggregated lead to an impassable 3-0. “It really feels good to see that 3-0 on the board so soon,” said the winner.
The Belgian victory was further consolidated when Yanina Wickmayer defeated Melanie Oudin convincingly in the last of the singles event at 6-2 and 6-0, extending her team’s lead to 4-0.
The only point the US team managed to get was in the double’s event when Liezel Huber and Vania King defeated Kirsten Flipkens and An-Sophie Mestach by 6-3 and 7-5. The competition ended at a final score of 4-1 and a memorable triumph for the Belgians.
Belgium will be hosting the Czech Republic in Charleroi to fight for a place in the final of the Fed Cup in the mid of April.
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