Kim Clijsters and Ana Ivanovic clear their third round matches at the Sony Ericsson Open
World number two, Kim Clijsters of Belgium exhibited her magnificent class once again to outplay the 27th seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open at Miami, Florida on Sunday
evening. The Australian Open winner took two hours to conclude victory at 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, to advance to the round of 16 in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tournament.
It was the 500th career victory for the Belgian veteran and 19th win in the current WTA season at Miami. Clijsters had an excellent beginning to the contest by taking on the opening set but had to recover
from a second set slump to conclude a three set victory eventually. Sanchez’s versatile game play took the world number two by surprise, forcing her to surrender the second set.
“She had a really flat backhand and a forehand she hit with more topspin,” Clijsters reflected about Sanchez in her post match reviews, “It's always hard when you have a player who plays two totally different shots on each side.
A couple of times my footwork wasn't right and I wasn't playing how I should have been.”
Clijsters conceded a shocking number of 10 double faults and 39 unforced errors in the contest which nearly cost her the match. After winning the first set 6-4, Clijsters lost her steam and kept losing points in the next set to
fall on the back foot. Two serve breaks from Sanchez closed out the second set to the Spaniard’s name at 6-4, levelling the contest with one set all.
The second seed turned the tables in the decisive third set and minimized her error count to get hold of the game. She stung two serve breaks to finally register a win at 6-3 and now moves on to meet Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the
fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open. The world number 19 Ivanovic made it to the round of 16 when her French opponent, Virginie Razzano retired from the match due to a thigh strain in the third round.
Ivanovic struck her third straight victory over Razzano and extended her head-to-head record against the Frenchwoman to 3-1. The Serb was brutally taken by Razzano in the opener and was forced to submit the set at 2-6. Ivanovic
bounced back strongly in the second set as she saw clear symptoms of fatigue and discomfort from the opponent. She stung two serve breaks to bag the second set 6-2 and bring the contest on even terms with one set a piece.
Ivanovic was leading 3-0 in the third set when Razzano called of the match due to her injured leg and granted a pass to the Serb to play against Clijsters in the fourth round. Clijsters lead 3-0 against Ivanovic in their individual
matches.
Tags: