CINCINNATI, OH, USA - In her first match on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in
over two years Kim Clijsters lit up the night crowds of Cincinnati on Monday,
beating an in-form Marion Bartoli in straight sets in the first round of the
$2-million Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open.
Video Catch all the action from Cincinnati live and online at TennisTV.com
from Thursday
Clijsters, who retired from professional tennis in May 2007, got married to
Brian Lynch in July 2007, gave birth to her daughter, Jada Ellie Lynch, in
February 2008 and subsequently announced her return to tennis earlier this
year, got a wildcard into this week's event and certainly made use of it,
whipping winners from the baseline and running down anything she could to
upset the No.12-seeded Bartoli, 64 63. Things were a little up and down in
the first set, as the Belgian won four straight games to start then saw
Bartoli even things up, 4-4; but from there Clijsters was always one step
ahead of the Frenchwoman.
"I was really excited to be out there. It has been so long I've been
practicing for this. To finally be here, it was exciting," Clijsters said.
"It was nice to be back out there and going through the whole match
preparations and routines again. I am excited I will be playing another
match, that it's not over after my first one."
"Without playing a match for two years, it is pretty amazing the level she
already has right now," said Bartoli, who was coming off her biggest career
title, winning the Premier-level tournament in Stanford eight days ago.
"Before she retired, her forehand was weaker than her backhand; today I think
it was the opposite. When I put her wide on the forehand she was coming up
with some amazing shots. But the way she was moving and hitting, it's just
amazing."
Next up for Clijsters will be Patty Schnyder, who beat Gisela Dulko earlier
in the day, 64 60. Clijsters is 5-2 lifetime against Schnyder, which includes
a 3-0 record on hardcourts - all of those wins coming in straight sets.
"We all miss her on the Tour. She has always been a fan favorite and great
for the sport. I really hope she enjoys it again and stays with us for a
while," Schnyder said. "I didn't see her too happy at the end when she
decided to take the break, and now I see her happy again. That's all that
matters. If you have so much success you can choose which life you want to
live... now she's back."
Other seeds in action were No.9 seed Victoria Azarenka, who beat Kaia Kanepi,
63 76(2); No.11 seed Ana Ivanovic, who beat Melanie Oudin, 26 61 61; and
No.16 seed Virginie Razzano, who lost to Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 63 36 64.
Other winners on Day 1 were Aleksandra Wozniak, Lucie Safarova, Roberta
Vinci, Anna Chakvetadze, Melinda Czink and two qualifiers, Kateryna
Bondarenko and Olga Govortsova.