Thursday, May 26, 2011

Clijsters out of French Open

One of the reasons I like the French Open so much is that red clay tends to be a neutralizer. There are a lot of service breaks, and there are upsets. And when it gets cold and windy, odd things can happen. There was a big upset today: Arantxa Rus took out number 2 seed Kim Clijsters in the second round. Clijsters, who is returning after suffering multiple injuries, was leading, 6-3, 5-2 and held a match point. She held another match point at 5-4, but did not convert that one, either. Then Rus just took over. Clijsters wound up making 65 unforced errors, and Rus walked away with a huge 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory.

Clijsters has been a finalist at the French Open on two occasions, but has never won it. She was considered a favorite to win it this year. Rus, a former star on the junior tour, will play Maria Kirilenko in the third round.

1 comment:

Wayne said...

Tennis is always a more interesting spectacle when SERVE is NOT the dominant factor.

I watched in disbelief Kim Clijsters crumble in the third set. The FO promised one of those special 'bombshell' days with Sharapova down a set and 4-1. Keep your eye on Maria's 17-year French opponent. Caroline Garcia was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye - the same village as Amelie Mauresmo. Must be something in the water down there.