Anyone wondering how serious a threat Kim Clijsters might be at the U.S. Open after a two-year layoff got their answer yesterday.
Clijsters, the 2005 champion, toppled No. 3 Venus Williams, 6-0, 0-6, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Moving well, stinging shots with both forehand and backhand and matching every bit of Williams' power, Clijsters offered a startling referendum on the state of her game.
It may have also said something about the true state of Williams' left knee, which she injured in the opening round but had refused to use as an excuse.
"It was unbelievable. I don't know what to say," Clijsters, of Belgium, said. "It was such a weird match, especially those first two sets. But after I lost the second at 6-0, I said, ‘Let's start over and start a new match.'''
The match began the way that many Sundays do in Queens -- with a couple of bagels. It took just 50 minutes to complete those first two sets, but both players regrouped from that bit of awkwardness and played some of the most compelling tennis of the tournament so far.
Clijsters grabbed an early break for a 3-1 lead in the third, helped by one of Williams' five double-faults to close it out. Clijsters served out the match from there, though it was anything but routine.
She fell behind 0-30 on her serve at 5-4, but just kept banging away. She got it to 30-40, then hit a shot deep into the corner that Williams couldn't handle. She forced an error at deuce with another deep groundstroke, then skidded a service winner off the line on her backhand for the win.
Her reaction was one not so much of surprise, as a smile that seemed to say "I told you so." She became the first female wild-card entrant to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals. One promising slice of history: This marked the third meeting between Clijsters and Williams at the U.S. Open, and each previous time, the winner has gone on to win the title.
"I've been working really hard the last seven, eight months and I'm enjoying it," Clijsters said. "It's something that's really important for myself, as long as I can focus on tennis and have fun on the outside as well."
Clijsters retired in 2007 to start a family and had not played in a Grand Slam event since.
The mother of an 18-month-old daughter, Clijsters is trying to join Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong as the third mother to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Clijsters came into the U.S. Open without enough tournaments under her belt to receive a ranking, and now finds herself two wins away from becoming the first unseeded player to reach the finals of the Open since Williams in 1997.
On the men's side, No. 3 Rafael Nadal overcame a 10-minute medical break for an injury to his stomach muscles to defeat 32nd-seeded Nicolas Almagro, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.
Nadal missed Wimbledon with knee injuries, and now must deal with injured abs that first cropped up last month in Cincinnati.
"I don't want to talk about injuries," Nadal said. "Sorry. ... I am here to try my best every day."
In other men's matches, No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez and No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro advanced, while 24th-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero moved on when ninth-seeded Gilles Simon retired in the fourth set with an injury to his right knee.
But the biggest buzz on this blustery day in Flushing Meadows belonged to Clijsters.
The Clijsters win injected another twist into a tournament that is not going to form. No. 2 Serena Williams is the only top-five seed remaining. She cruised through her fourth-round match, winning the final 10 games in a 6-2, 6-0 rout over No. 22 Daniela Hantuchova.
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