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| November 10, 2005 | Thursday | Shawwal 7, 1426 |
Tennis: Pierce tames tired Clijsters
LOS ANGELES, Nov 9: Kim Clijsters’s bid to cap her stellar 2005 with the WTA Tour Championship crown - and perhaps a world No. 1 ranking - suffered a blow Tuesday with a three-set loss to France’s Mary Pierce.
Pierce avenged her US Open final defeat at the hands of Clijsters with a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2) triumph in the opening match of the elite season-ending event.
It remains to be seen if the defeat is a real road block, or just a speed bump in Clijsters’s path as she vies to become the first player to move from outside the top 100 to No. 1 within the same season.
Reigning world number one Lindsay Davenport of the United States signalled her intention of doing all she can to hang on to the top spot with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/1) victory over Russian Nadia Petrova.
In the day’s other match, defending champion Maria Sharapova opened her bid for a repeat in the three million-dollar tournament with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder.
Pierce’s triumph over Clijsters was her first over the Belgian in four career meetings. Their most recent previous clash was Clijsters’s straight-set hammering of Pierce in the final at Flushing Meadows - a win that gave Clijsters the first Grand Slam title of her career.
And Clijsters, who said she still hadn’t adjusted to the nine-hour time difference between Belgium and California, turned in an uncharacteristicly inconsistent performance that included 11 double faults.
“I was not seeing the ball well at all today,” Clijsters said. “I felt tired. The lights felt too bright. I was just mentally tired.”
Pierce, on the other hand, came out firing on all cylinders.
“No matter how well I played in the first set, I think she would have won it,” Clijsters said.
But Pierce said she felt a difference in Clijsters, especially in the opening set.
“In the first set, Kim wasn’t playing well, she wasn’t moving,” Pierce said. “I was suprised how I won the first set quickly and easily.”
Clijsters finally earned her first break point of the match in the seventh game of the second set, and she seemed energized by her break to lead 4-3.
Two double faults in the 10th game almost cost her a chance to even the match, but she finished off the game with an ace to make it two sets apiece.
In the third, Clijsters went up a break three times, starting with a break in the opening game. But the Belgian could never consolidate her advantage.
“I knew I was up,” Clijsters said. “But I didn’t feel physically that I was up.”
Pierce evened the set at 4-4 with a break in the eighth game, then let slip two game points in the 11th as Clijsters broke to lead 6-5.
Under the round-robin format, with the top two finishers in each of the two four-woman groups advancing to the semi-finals, Clijsters could still unseat Davenport.
Davenport returns to action on Wednesday against Schnyder, while Pierce takes on Russia’s Dementieva.
Results
Round Robin (Black Group)
Mary Pierce (FRA) bt Kim Clijsters (BEL) 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2)
Green Group
Maria Sharapova (RUS) bt Patty Schnyder (SUI) 6-1 3-6, 6-3; Lindsay Davenport (USA) bt Nadia Petrova (RUS) 6-2, 7-6 (7/1).—AFP
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