MELBOURNE—We’ve had controversies, breakthroughs, surprises, bad calls, and epic matches so far at this year’s Aussie Open, but they’ve almost all come on the men’s side. Today, a week in, the women joined the chaos when Kim Clijsters executed the most stunning reversal of the tournament so far in her up, down, up, down, and finally up again 4-6, 7-6 (6) 6-4 win over Li Na in the fourth round.
A rematch of last year’s final, this one had been highly anticipated. For the better part of two sets, though, it looked like it was going to be nothing more than a major bummer. At 3-3 in the first set, Clijsters turned her left ankle and had to take a timeout to have it strapped. For the next 30 minutes or so, she couldn’t defend either corner of the court and had to rely on going for broke with her own ground strokes. Li won the first set 6-4, and when she broke and held to go up 3-1 in the second, it appeared that this one was over, and Clijsters, who is retiring at the end of 2012, had played her final Australian Open.
That would have been all too neat and easy for a WTA match between two top players. Clijsters kept hitting out, while Li got anxious and testy with her husband in the stands. When she sailed a backhand 10 feet long on break point at 3-2, she rushed to the sideline to pick up a racquet with a tighter string job. She knew she needed help with her control, and for a time it appeared that she had gotten it. The two players, playing athletic, bang-bang, hit-and-miss tennis, went to a tiebreaker, and Li went out to a 6-2 lead. Again, it looked over.
Shockingly, though, Li got tight and Clijsters loosened up. Soon Li’s four match points had dwindled to one. At 6-5, the two players rallied. Clijsters, thinking that Li was farther back in the court than she was—or, just as likely, not thinking at all—popped up a forehand drop shot. Li came in, and, with the crosscourt wide open and all the time in the world, bunted the ball down the line and straight to Clijsters. The Belgian lofted a topspin lob that, on a normal day, Li might have tracked down. Not now. Li didn’t even watch it land.
Two points later Li had lost the set. For the next four games, it appeared that she had also lost the match. Clijsters went up 4-0 as a blank-faced Li missed everything in sight. This, finally, was it, right? Oh no, that still would have been too neat and easy. Serving at 4-1, it was Clijsters’ turn to get tight. She double-faulted to go down break point; Li was a point away from being back in it. She returned the ball down the middle, and Clijsters hit what would turn out to be the most important shot of the set. She sent a wobbly backhand looping down the line. It could easily have floated wide, but it touched down on the line instead. The moment had passed for Clijsters. She held for 5-1.
Li, loose, played much better from there, while Clijsters never totally shook her nerves. But it was too late. The year’s first thrilling (for Clijsters), sickening (for Li) roller-coaster ride was over.
—Steve Tignor