This was a yawner, unless you count Kim Clijsters’ on-court interview after it was all done. The Belgian stopped interviewer Todd Woodbridge mid-question to say that, “by the way,” she knows he texted Rennae Stubbs to ask if Clijsters is pregnant. As he blushed she went on to quote his text message: “She looks really grumpy, and her boobs are bigger.” Soon after confirming she is, in fact, not pregnant, she laughed and hugged him, as he wrapped up the interview and went off, presumably to hide in a corner.
But back to the tennis, where Kim Clijsters 2.0 is starting to make Kim Clijsters 1.0 look a tad shabby.
Less than two years into her return, Kim 2.0 has won every encounter with a Grand Slam singles champion (and she’s played all of them but Francesca Schiavone) and each final she’s played but one. If she hadn’t lost that one—to Li Na, last week in Sydney—perhaps many would have preferred the Australian Open simply hand her the trophy, allowing fans to focus entirely on the possible Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal men's final.
While Clijsters is the favorite at the moment, who knows when she’ll be ambushed by another Nadia Petrova? It could have been Carla Suarez Navarro, who Clijsters had never played before and who beat Venus Williams here in the same round a few years ago. Sure, Suarez Navarro hasn’t won’t two consecutive main draw matches since she sprained her ankle last April. And yes, Clijsters dished out the double bagel heard 'round the tennis world in her last match, against Dinara Safina. Still there’s a reason they play.
Today’s match, though, happened as we thought it would: Clijsters' racquet did all the deciding. They made roughly the same number of errors, but Clijsters hit a lot more winners—23 to Suarez Navarro's six. Clijsters was far superior offensively, hitting with more power and depth, and with better placement and angles. And we all know what she can do defensively.
Suarez Navarro, for her part, wasn’t the same player who once beat Venus. She didn’t defend well and wasn’t consistent. Kim mostly looked like she was practicing groundstrokes with a hitting partner, one who’d lose her job soon. You have to wonder if Clijsters sometimes loses focus because she gets bored when opponents just can’t produce the offense to hurt her, or the requisite defense to stay in a point.
Not surprisingly, Martina Navratilova considers Clijsters “the player to beat.” She said her other picks are Justine Henin, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Sam Stosur, adding, “At their best they’re still better than Caroline Wozniacki.” Lindsay Davenport concurs on Clijsters and Stosur, but her other picks are Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka.
All of that remains to be seen. What we do know is that Clijsters has made it to the third round, where she’ll play either Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez or Alize Cornet, neither of whom she’s played before.
—Bobby Chintapalli