Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka have made their way into the Australian Open 2012 semifinals. Azarenka has a close first set, but then turned up the head to win in three sets, 6-7, 6-0, 6-2 against Agnieszka Radwanska. While Kim Clijsters pushed past Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 7-6.
This now means we will have a new number 1 female player in the world after the Australian Open.
Poor old Li Na left the Chinese press in tears after she choked and didn’t convert four match points against Kim Clijster. Li Na lost 4-6, 7-6, (6), 6-4.
“Maybe 6-2 up in the tiebreak I was a little bit shocking,” Li told reporters in English.
Shame.. I can now see Kim Clijsters going on to make the final and possibly even win the title.
Kim Clijsters is off to a great start at the Australian Open 2012. Clijsters began her Australian Open defence with a straight sets with over qualifier Maria Joao Koehler 7-5 6-1.
“It doesn’t matter how hard you train in the off-season, the matches always put more stress on your body.”
It will be interesting to see if she has the drive and the stamina to make it into the second week and beyond!
Kim Clijsters talks to the press after her second round win over Ana Ivanovic at the Brisbane International 2012.
This made me laugh. Here is Caroline Wozniacki imitating Serena Williams at a recent exhibition match with Kim Clijsters.
After Li Na split up with her coach, Kim Clijsters of Belgium has decided to take the same route. She has replaced Wim Fissette with former Belgian Fed Cup captain, Carl Maes.
He has coached the former top player before on a private basis, but Kim isn’t expected to return to play until the next season due to injuries she has sustained this year.
Kim Clijsters cant stay out of the headlines, this time for a good reason. Courtesy of Babolat, Kim Clijsters is giving away a free private training session.
All you need to do is head to takealessonwithkim.com and sign up. Entries close 30th September 2011.
The injury list for the US Open is growing by the day, so it is going to be a very interesting tournament. The only top male player not on the list is Roger Federer.
Womens injuries so far:
Maria Sharapova has won her semifinal at the Cincinnati event over Samantha Stosur 6-3 6-2.
Sharapova played a great match and has now a 9-0 career win loss against Stosur.
“I did many good things today that caused her a lot of trouble,” Sharapova said. “I didn’t give her much time to do the things she likes to do.”
Stosur is confident that she’ll eventually beat Sharapova.
“It’s possible to win,” she said. “I’ve got to believe that, but I guess it’s back to the drawing board.”
With the news that Kim Clijsters has pulled out of the US Open, Sharapova has to be one of the favourites for the title!
The new WTA Tour rankings are out and here is what has changed after the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
The complete top ten according to the August 15 rankings is below:
1. Caroline Wozniacki
2. Vera Zvonareva
3. Kim Clijsters
4. Victoria Azarenka
5. Na Li
6. Petra Kvitova
7. Maria Sharapova
8. Francesca Schiavone
9. Marion Bartoli
10. Samantha Stosur
Serena Williams won the Rogers Cup in Toronto and she is now 31st in the world rankings.
This week is the Cincinnati tournament in which we will see Serena Williams possibly play Samanthat Stosur in the second round.
There is a very interesting article over at PostGame that showcases the top 5 highest paid female athletes. Out of the top 5 there are 4 tennis players in the list!
Thus, if your a female and you want to earn a lot of money from sport, then Tennis is the game for you.
WTA Tour rankings are out and Caroline Wozniacki is still leading in August. I still think Kim Clijsters would be the best player in the world if she played more than once a month on average!
Singles
1. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark, 9,915 points.
2. Kim Clijsters, Belgium, 7,625.
3. Vera Zvonareva, Russia, 6,850.
4. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 6,115.
5. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 5,941.
6. Li Na, China, 5,855.
7. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, 5,437.
8. Francesca Schiavone, Italy, 4,831.
9. Marion Bartoli, France, 4,425.
10. Sam Stosur, Australia, 3,275.
11. Andrea Petkovic, Germany, 3,245.
12. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 3,220.
13. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland, 2,915.
14. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, 2,775.
15. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia, 2,775.
16. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia, 2,595.
17. Peng Shuai, China, 2,580.
18. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia, 2,555.
19. Yanina Wickmayer, Belgium, 2,470.
20. Julia Goerges, Germany, 2,335.
Kim Clijsters has officially withdrawn from Wimbledon 2011.
Kim said in a statement:
“I’m very very disappointed to have to withdraw from Wimbledon after injuring my foot again at the tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. At this moment I feel frustrated that it has to happen now before one of my favourite tournaments. I’ve always enjoyed being a part of the Wimbledon atmosphere but I have no other choice now but to rest, recover and to not play tennis for a few weeks.”
Kim Clijsters, a former world No.1, and current world No.2, did not pass her second round test at the French Open, as Arantxa Rus defeated the Belgian with a score of 3-6 7-5 6-1.
Clijsters was holding a match point with a 6-3 5-2 lead, but squandered those points and ended up losing to the Dutch 20-year-old.
While this was Clijsters’ second clay-court tournament of the year, she took a good lead and had a match point at 5-2 and 5-4 in the second set, but Rus was able to find her confidence and win the second set, and then the third set, quite easily, to end the match.
“I’m still trying to figure it out,” Clijsters said. “I felt like she was missing quite a lot in the beginning of the rallies, and I felt I was moving her around well from side to side. Then I started doubting a little bit. That’s definitely the wrong attitude to have, especially for me on clay. She obviously started building up more confidence, playing a lot better and putting me on my back foot all the time. I couldn’t really play my aggressive tennis anymore in that third set.”
Some injuries have been holding Clijsters back recently, but she still chose to participate in the second Grand Slam of the year, after winning last year’s U.S. Open and this year’s Australian Open.
Best of luck to Arantxa in the tournament!
Here is the Kim Clijsters video from the recent WTA Tour Strong is Beautiful campaign.
Mens Singles:
Day 3 was an amazing day. Day 3 saw Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray in action amoung other great players.
Nadal came up against John Isner, who has an amazingly big serve. It was expected that Nadal would dominate the match and just simply be too strong on the clay. However, Isner was playing his A-game and Nadal was quick lucky to win in five very tough sets. 6-4 6-7 6-7 6-2 6-4.
In the rest of the matches most of the seeds got through without any trouble at all. However, Nicolas Almagro (11) was not so lucky as he fell to Lukasz Kubot in five sets. 3-6 2-6 7-6 7-6 6-4.
For me the pick of the matches was between two of the older guys on tour, Dmitry Tursunov and Xavier Malisse. These guys were roughing it on court 17 and they gave the crowd something to talk about. The match lasted three hours and saw Xavier Malisse progress 6-1 in the fifth set.
Womens Singles:
In day 3 on the womens side everything seemed to go very well for all the seed. The only seed that didnt make it through was Ana Ivanovic (whats news). Ana seemed to be playing strong tennis as she lost the first set 7-6 and then won the second set 6-0. However, as Ana isnt really predictable, she then went on to lose the third set 6-2.
For me the match of the day was Patty Schnyder and Sorana Cirstea. This was expected to be a very close match between two good players who both were not seeded. However, it seemed like Patty didnt really turn up for the match and Cirstea steam rolled her 6-1 6-3.
Overall:
Rafael Nadal has a tough match and progressed, this could set him up nicely for a good campaign here! In the other matches Andy Murray played very well, but he tends to run out of steam in the second week of Grand Slams. Outsiders are Robin Soderling and Gilles Simon, both played very well today.
Kim Clijsters has to be the favourite for this title and she didn’t disappoint today. Surprisingly Maria Sharapova is playing some great tennis at the moment and I could see he going quite deep in this tournament.
It seems like Kim Clijsters has injured herself while dancing at the wedding of her nephew. With only the French Open weeks away, this isnt the time for Clijsters to get injured.
Clijsters turned her ankle while dancing (wonder if there was any alcohol involved! haha).
Clijsters revealed the news on her website (translated from Dutch):
At the wedding party of her cousin Tim, Kim injured her ankle severely. The consequences are rather dire. After a visit to the doctor, echo and NMR the diagnosis is a severe strain of both the medial and lateral ligaments of the right ankle and a torn ligaments, a torn capsule of the ankle joint, a hematoma and torn tendon sheath.
Its been rumoured that the 2012 Olympics will be Kim Clijsters final major tournament. On Wednesday Kim hinted that she may retire for the second time after the 2012 London Olympics.
“That will probably be the last big event that I will be a part of,” said the three-time U.S. Open champion, who has gone back and forth on the subject of her retirement date a number of times.
The 27-year-old already retired once. In May 2007, Clijsters decided to start a family when she was 23-years old. She came out of retirement one year and three months later.
“The desire is back. I have missed the competition in the last two years. I am training for one goal, to face all these talented girls,” Clijsters said.
Here in Queensland it hasn’t really been the best of times lately. It has just been announced that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will play an exhibition match on Sunday ahead of the Australian Open to raise funds for the country’s flood victims.
Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Kim Clijsters will join Lleyton Hewitt in a “Rally for Relief” match at Rod Laver Arena. Also participating will be Sam Stosur and retired star Pat Rafter, who both come from Queensland.
Stosur said the flooding, which has killed 25 people since November and trashed the city of Brisbane, is an “enormous disaster” and “lots of us just want to make some sort of contribution.”
Kim Clijsters have now officially withdrawn from the French Open. Clijsters withdrew because of a foot injury she suffered during Fed Cup last month.
A CT scan today revealed the injury was healing, but fluid is still building up around her ankle and she has opted to miss the second grand slam of the year and end her clay-court season.
“It’s really a shame to give up on Roland Garros. Paris is so close I always feel a little at home. And that’s where I played my first grand slam final. But the foot pain forces me to throw in the towel.”
Clijsters has been replaced by Stephanie Dubois in the main draw.
Tournament officials at Roland Garros also announced on Friday that Sania Mirza, Urszula Radwanska, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, and Sabine Lisicki have also withdrawn.
They will be replaced by Katie O’Brien, Anne Keothavong, Ekateryna Bychkova, and Johanna Larsson.
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