Kim Clijsters crushes Victoria Duval in the first round – US Open 2012
Former world number one, Kim Clijsters, slaughtered the American underdog, Victoria Duval, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, at the US Open held on the hard courts of New York.
16-year-old Duval was unable to stand the might of the veteran tennis professional. Due to lack of confidence, she was unable to hold her serves most of the times during the opening set. The Belgian star very smoothly stepped
forward and stomped onto her rival, successfully hammering cracking shots and exhibiting her flawless serves en route to victory.
On the other hand, the young US tennis professional tried her best to beat the over-powering odds and successfully stabilized her position by evening out the scores in the set, twice. The two-time US Open title bearer kept
her momentum and stepped forward to clinch the last three games of the set, claiming it with a 6-3 score.
Ranked 25th in WTA Premier Rankings, Clijsters snatched four of the five break points and maintained a high first serve percentage of 84. She attained 12 of 16 first serve points. Fortunately, she
swept the entire match without facing any serious challenge and converted three of four break points to come out as the winner. In comparison, Duval nailed the single serve break and merely managed to secure 65 percentage first serve in her defence.
In the final set, the Belgian right-hander carried away almost all the games by brushing away her rival. Clijsters set her desirable breakthrough since the start of the set and hammered several angled shots. She broke her
opponent three times at critical moments in the closing set and without facing much trouble, she pulled out the closing set 6-1 to register her thumping victory.
The American teenager had a high first serve rate of 76 percent, but she was unable to pocket any break points in the closing set. Belgian tennis icon had an outstanding performance; she comfortably capitalized 12 of 13 first
serve points and two of three break points to hunt down Duval.
She will be contesting against British doubles silver medallist Laura Robson in the second round.
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