Clijsters crashes out
Originally published on: 26/02/10 13:02
The Belgian was broken five times as she crashed to a 6-0 6-1 defeat in just 51 minutes on Hisense Arena.
Petrova, the 19th seed, had lost all four of her previous encounters against the US Open champion, but made amends in a contest which saw her hit 21 winners.
By comparison, 15th seed Clijsters clocked just seven winners and 26 unforced errors, ending hopes of a quarter-final clash with compatriot Justine Henin.
Petrova flew out of the blocks in determined fashion and a series of powerful shots allowed the Russian to claim the opening set to love in just 18 minutes.
Clijsters had to wait until the third game of the second set to register on the board as her opponent’s dominance continued.
The Belgian then had her only opportunity to break in the following game, but the chance was wasted with a long forehand and Petrova held serve before breaking again in the sixth.
That left the Russian serving for the match, and although a few nerves dragged the game out, Petrova eventually wrapped up the contest with her third match point when Clijsters hit a weak forehand into the net.
Her compatriot Justine Henin had to show all of her battling qualities to keep her bid for a grand slam title just a month after returning from retirement on track.
The wildcard entry fought back from a set down against 27th seed Alisa Kleybanova to progress to the last 16 with a 3-6 6-4 6-2 victory in two hours and 20 minutes.
Now get the WORLD’S BEST TENNIS MAGAZINE here