Kim Clijsters knocks-out Roberta Vinci in the opening clash – London Olympics 2012
According to the expectations of everyone around the globe, the former world number one, Kim Clijsters, commences the London Olympics campaign with resounding straight sets 6-1, 6-4 triumph against the superior ranked Italian age-fellow,
Roberta Vinci.
The Belgian superstar has been out of action ever since her loss in the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championships. She has been struck with hip injury on multiple occurrences this season so hasn’t been battling throughout the
year and taking reasonable rest before crashing back to the courts.
Moreover, she is competing in her second last tournament at Olympics because the 36th ranked Belgian will say goodbye to the professional tennis at the end of the year’s fourth Grand Slam Championship, the US Open at
New York.
So, a sweet start for the 29-year-old Belgian was required to increase the number of matches played in her last days as a professional athlete. It was her third head-to-head win against the Italian age-fellow who is having trouble
in winning singles matches.
The 27th ranked Italian could just win a single game in the entire opening set. She was completely owned by the Belgian superstar who is looking emphatically good with her footwork and ground strokes. There is a slight
possibility that she will be amongst the medallist holders in the campaign this year.
Moreover, her competition from the top seeds will be interesting to watch. She clasped three breakpoints in the opening set to register a resounding first set score against the 29-year-old Italian. Nothing changed in the second
set as well except some respect was restored by the superior ranked Italian courtesy a conversion of one breakpoint towards the end.
The ending statement by Clijsters before she left the arena stated “It's a great feeling knowing I'm here, because there were moments in the last year and a half I definitely thought about retiring again, not thinking I would even
get to the Olympics. I'm happy I stuck with it and kept working hard. I still feel whenever I step out onto the court and feel good physically, if I play good tennis, I can beat a lot of good players. With that attitude, I'll go until I play my last match.
For me it's a good attitude to have."
Trailing one set down, the Italian started the second phase of the match in poor style. She dropped the opening serve game and went 0-3 after failing to hold serve for the second time in a row. Clijsters clasped the remaining
games in a short span of time and booked a date with Carla Suarez Navarro.
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