Wild card Kim Clijsters, playing on the tour for the first time in over two years, upset 12th seed and Stanford champion Marion Bartoli in the first round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open tonight. This is the first year that the Cincinnati tournament has been given premier status, and this new status was given an extra boost by Clijsters' entry.
Bartoli's service stats were not that good, and she converted only 2 of 10 break points.
Clijsters' next opponent will be Patty Schnyder, who defeated Gisela Dulko 6-4, 6-0.
Also upset today was 16th seed Virginie Razzano, who lost to Anna-Lena Groenefeld. Victoria Azarenka defeated Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 7-6, which means that Kanepi continues her losing streak. This was a very respectable scoreline, however, and Kanepi hit 9 aces.
All right, now who'll be the first person to say that Clijsters' straight sets win, after two years away, over the Stanford champion hints about a "lack of quality play" on tour?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the line is already forming, Todd. It's not often you get to insult Marion, the tour, and Kim--all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI wonder was the Doctor in the house, if so Marion must have had her earplugs in.
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