Romina Oprandi ousts world number two Kim Clijsters in the second round – UNICEF Open 2011
Top seeded Kim Clijsters suffered another early round loss on the Women’s Tennis Association tour as she was stunned 7-6 (5), 6-3 in her second round match against Romina Oprandi at 2011 UNICEF Open.
Ranked 82nd in the world, Oprandi made a solid start to the match as she broke her opponent’s serve early to put herself in the driving seat. Holding on to her service games, the Italian raced to 5-3 lead. Breaking back to stay in the set, Clijsters showed amazing fighting spirit and determination to force the opener into a tie-breaker. However, Oprandi concentrated even harder on her game play and clinched the tie-breaker 7-5 to take the set score lead 1-0.
Looking for the biggest win of her career, Oprandi looked to attack her opponent in the second set as well. Showing her aggressive intent, she took the initiative immediately and managed to convert one of the break chances in the set. Despite feeling pain in her ankle, Clijsters put up a brave fight to find an entry back into the match. However, the deficit proved to be too much for her as she let Oprandi complete her straight sets victory in a match that lasted for only one hour and 32 minutes.
"I kept fighting and I made some good drop shots and I served pretty well, so that was the key," Oprandi said. "It's amazing. I can't really believe it because I always looked up to Kim and I still do because she's an amazing player and a really nice person, a real champion."
The world number two Kim Clijsters had suffered from the same ankle injury before returning to the tour at 2011 French Open, where she lost to Dutch Arantxa Rus in the second round. After claiming her second WTA Grand Slam title in Australia earlier this year, Clijsters has struggled with her health and fitness. Due to her ankle injury, she may not even participate at the prestigious Wimbledon next week.
"I will undergo some tests maybe tonight or tomorrow morning," said Clijsters at the post-match press conference. "Then I can give more specific answers. At the moment I just focus on getting my ankle better. Too bad it happened. It puts me back to where I was a few weeks ago. It's frustrating of course, but it's what an athlete has to deal with."
The Italian, however, was absolutely delighted with her effort and aimed to achieve similar results in her upcoming matches at the tournament. Her opponent in the quarterfinal will be Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm, who crushed Lourdes Dominguez Lino from Spain 7-6 (3), 6- 0.
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