U.S. Open Day 1: Kim Clijsters advances to next round
The defending champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium defeated Greta Arn of Hungary 6-0 7-5in the first round of the U.S. Open on Monday. Clijsters was about to lose the match before she struggled to find her footing on a windy day before regaining in time to win her 15th straight match at Arthur Ashe centre court.
Kim Clijsters ran off 12 straight points to pull within 4-3 and then broke in the 10th game and then did again to clinch the straight set victory.
"I was just excited to go out there," Clijsters said about getting her title defence under way. "I'm happy with the way I served. That's been a stroke that I've been paying a lot more attention to during my practicing the past few weeks."
As Monday was quite windy, therefore Clijsters faced many difficulties in adjusting her strokes, when she was playing with or against the wind. The 27-year-old Belgian served three aces and won 78 percent of her first serve points. She was not aggressive enough playing with the wind at her back in the second set.
"She kind of put me under pressure a little bit where it should have been the other way around but I'm just glad to finish that second set off and not let it go three sets," she said.
A year ago Kim Clijsters was a wild card entry in only her third tournament and this time she is the second top-seed for the U.S. Open and one of the favourites to win the Open. Kim did a great job in her last year U.S. Open and scored inspirationally.
In 2005, Clijsters began her current win streak by winning the 2005 U.S. Open but unfortunately missed the next year’s tournament due to wrist injury and then stepped away from the tennis world to start a family.
It was almost the perfect opening of the tournament by Clijsters at Flushing Meadows. The crowd praised the Belgian ace for her tremendous performance committing only two unforced errors on her ground strokes.
"Beginning the second set she started going for a little bit more," explained Clijsters. "I kind of lost my positioning and my footing on court a little bit."
Clijsters was in full form during her third set but unfortunately she sprayed four faulty forehands in the first set and three backhand errors in the second set. Although Clijsters is really recognized for her well-placed ground strokes as well as for her speed and athleticism, her mental fragility is considered as her biggest weakness.
In 2009 Kim Clijsters was the third unseeded and first unranked female champion of a Grand Slam title by winning the U.S. Open. Along with Jelen Jankovic, Clijsters is among the few tennis players who can slide on all the kind of surfaces. Her strength lies in how she always forces her opponent to hit an extra shot, players should expect that she is going to get every ball back. Usually her first serve which is not overwhelmingly powerful, earns aces and is hard to return.
She is considered as the most popular players on the tournament and also noted for not losing her temper. This has resulted in her being voted for seven times for the WTA Karen Krantzcke Award by her colleagues. Clijsters need to work on her forehand so that faulty forehands could not be sprayed next time in the tournament, and she also needs to work on her backhand to avoid uncertain errors.
Clijsters who has won three main tournaments this year will be facing Australian qualifier Sally Peers in her next match. Sally Peer advanced with a 6-0 6-1 victory over Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniack. Hopefully, she will once again prove herself to be the one of the best tennis stars in this tournament, and will live to the expectations of her fans and all who follow tennis. Experts speculate that Kim would one of the female tennis stars making it to the semi-finals of U.S. Open 2010.
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