Kim Clijsters

Kim Clijsters IPA , almost universally mispronounced , (born 8 June, 1983 in Bilzen, Belgium) is the current world number two female tennis player, and a former world number one.

Playing Style

Clijsters, known as Kim Kong, Killing Kim or Kim Possible to many fans, is recognized for her deep, powerful, well-placed groundstrokes, as well as her court-wide defense, characterized by speed and athleticism, including the use of splits in returning some shots. ^* After being defeated by Clijsters in the US Open, Sharapova commented that Clijsters' strength lies in how she always forces her opponent to "hit that extra shot."

Clijsters is often written off by critics as "too nice." In response to these critics, she famously replied, "You don't have to hate your opponent to beat them."

Trademark move

One of her on court trademark moves, which makes Clijsters' matches entertaining to watch, is her splits. To execute this, she hacks downward on the racket with an open face, creating a vicious underspin to neutralize the power behind a ball. She owns this technique by doing a split on the courts as she does this defensive tactic. The technique doesn't necessarily allow her to reach farther, rather, it dissipates her momentum (gained as she runs to retrieve a ball), allowing her to make a quick recovery towards the court's center, thereby preventing the court from being opened up by the opponent and making more time for her to take the next ball. Nonetheless, many tennis experts argue that this move demands too much from her body—especially from her limbs—so the chance of an injury is much higher.

Family life

Clijsters is the daughter of a successful footballer, Lei Clijsters, and a national gymnastics champion, Els Vandecaetsbeek. In reference to her playing style, Clijsters claim to have inherited her a footballer's legs from her father (e.g. when she runs down to retrieve every shot), and a gymnast's flexibility from her mother (e.g. when she makes the split, see trademark move). ^*

Clijsters has a younger sister named Elke Clijsters, who was an accomplished junior player. She finished 2002 as the ITF World Junior Doubles champion, but back injuries forced Elke to retire from her professional tennis career in 2004.

In November 2003, she announced her engagement to Australian tennis player Lleyton Hewitt, but they ended their relationship in October 2004. She is now engaged to 27-year old Belgium-based American basketball player Brian Lynch, who is based in Clijsters' home town of Bree.

Tennis career

Clijsters was an accomplished junior player. In singles, she finished as runner-up in the 1998 Wimbledon junior event, placing 11th in the year-end singles ranking. In the same year in doubles, Clijsters won the French Open title with Jelena Dokic, and the US Open with Eva Dyrberg, ending the season as number four in the ITF junior doubles world ranking.

In 1999, Clijsters made her breakthrough professionally. Playing through the qualifying rounds, she made it through the main draw of Wimbledon, wherein she defeated then world number 10 Amanda Coetzer en route to the fourth round, where Clijsters lost to her childhood idol Steffi Graf. Later that summer, Clijsters reached the third round of the US Open, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams; at one stage, she had the opportunity to serve for the match. In autumn, Clijsters won her first WTA singles title at Luxembourg. She followed this up with her first WTA doubles title at Bratislava, partnering Laurence Courtois.

Clijsters climbed her way up the rankings over the next couple of years. In 2001, she reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open, where she lost an extremely close match to Jennifer Capriati, by a score of 12-10 in the third set. Her next important breakthrough came at the end of 2002, when she won the year-end WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles, scoring a huge win in the final over then world number one, Serena Williams, 7-5 6-3. On her way to the final, she beat then world number four Justine Henin and then world number two Venus Williams (when Williams retired).

Clijsters had her career-best season in 2003. She won nine singles tournaments and seven doubles titles (including French Open and Wimbledon) that year. Among her singles tournament runs was the defending her WTA Tour Championships title, and reaching two Grand Slam finals (French Open and US Open), losing on both occasions to Henin (now Henin-Hardenne).

On 11 August 2003, she attained the top ranking, holding the spot for 12 non-consecutive weeks before losing it later in the year to Henin-Hardenne. She is the first woman to achieve the feat without winning a Grand Slam title.

Clijsters started 2004 by reaching her fourth career Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, where she lost once more to Henin-Hardenne. She then won two consecutive titles in Paris and Antwerp. While defending her Tier I title at Indian Wells however, Clijsters began to have problems with her wrist, eventually requiring surgery and forcing her to withdraw from most tournaments. She attempted a comeback towards the end of the season, winning several matches, before reaggravating the injury.

2005

In February 2005, after almost a year of inactivity caused by injuries, she made her return to the WTA tour by participating in her home country tournament at Antwerp, losing to Venus Williams in the quarter-final. She then completed a stunning comeback to the top echelon of women's tennis when she won, as an unseeded entry, 14 straight matches to claim two Tier I titles (Indian Wells and Miami) in March. During that run, Clijsters defeated five of the world's top six players at the time.

Further cementing her comeback, Clijsters finally won a Grand Slam singles title at the US Open. It was her first victory after reaching four Grand Slam finals previously. In the tournament, Clijsters defeated Mary Pierce 6-3, 6-1 in the finals; along the way, she defeated both 10th seed Venus Williams and top seed Maria Sharapova. By winning the US Open Series—a string of tournaments leading to the Grand Slam—Clijsters received a 100% bonus to the 1.1 million USD prize money in the US Open. Her 2.2 million USD paycheck is the largest payday in women's sports history.

On September 15, within days after her US Open victory, it was announced that the cooperation between Clijsters and her coach, Marc Dehous, would come to an end. De Hous had brought her during the three years that they worked together to the number one spot on the WTA ranking, two Year-End Championships titles and a Grand Slam victory, but thought it to be time to do something else. Clijsters will take no new coach but will continue on her own.

At the 2005 WTA Tour Championships, Clijsters was eliminated after only two matches. She lost her first match in a thrilling three-setter against Mary Pierce, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6. Amélie Mauresmo defeated her in the second match, 6-3, 7-6. Clijsters said in interviews that her defeats were due to fatigue and maybe jet lag, having had a relatively short time to adjust and acclimatize before the tournament began. Although she won her third match in the round-robin tournament against Elena Dementieva, 6-2 6-3, it was considered a dead rubber.

Overall, she won nine singles events in 2005, her last one being at the Gaz de France Stars in Hasselt. She ended the year ranked number two.

2006

Clijsters started her 2006 season by winning an exhibition tournament, the Watson Water Challenge, in Hong Kong. On her way to the title she defeated Jie Zheng, Dementieva and then world number one Lindsay Davenport.

Clijsters then withdrew from her semi-final match at the WTA tournament in Sydney, citing a left hip muscle strain. She was to face Italian number one player Francesca Schiavone.

At the 2006 Australian Open, she made her way to the semi-finals. She defeated former champion Martina Hingis, 6-3 2-6 6-4 in the quarters, before falling to Mauresmo in the semis. Despite the loss, the rankings points she accumulated was enough for her to regain the world number one spot, starting March 30, a position she last held on November 9, 2003.

Considering her uncertain status a year before due to injuries, she became the first tennis player, man or woman, ever to rise from outside the Top 100 (No. 134) to No. 1 in less than year. Ironically, her loss to Mauresmo in the Australian Open semi-finals was due to retirement, after acquiring an ankle injury. Although she was expected to miss at least eight weeks to repair the tear in her ankle, Clijsters defied expectations by returning two weeks later in mid-February at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, where she reached the final, but ultimately lost to Mauresmo in three sets.

In May, Clijsters competed at the French Open. On her way to the semi-finals, Clijsters did not lose a set. In the quarter-finals, she once again defeated Hingis, 7-6 6-1. However, she lost to fellow Belgian Henin-Hardenne in the semi-finals, 6-3 6-2, on her 23rd birthday.

She was second seeded going into The Championships, Wimbledon, but was eliminated in the semi-finals by third-seeded fellow-Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne.

Coaches

1992-1996: Bart Van Kerckhove—he saw Clijsters as an 11 year old and was certain she would make it as a top 10 player in the world.
1996-2002: Carl Maes
2002-2005: Marc Dehous

Retirement?

Recently, Clijsters has given indications that she will retire from tennis soon. "I think I will stop at the end of 2007. My body is already giving me a lot of problems," Clijsters said, mirroring a current trend in men's and women's tennis of prevailing injuries. Clijsters herself has had a career marred by several injuries including a career-threatening wrist injury. ^*

Clijsters has been offered the directorship of the Gaz de France Stars tournament in Hasselt from 2009.

Records

2003

Her tour-best nine titles for the season is the most since Hingis won 12 titles in 1997.

She became not only the first Belgian—man or woman—to be ranked number one, but also did it without winning a Grand Slam (to be duplicated later by Frenchwoman Mauresmo). She is also one of the few women to be both world number one in singles and doubles.

Compiled a 90-12 singles record. Her singles win was the most by any woman since 1982. Clijsters was the first to exceed 100 matches contested in a year since 1974.

2005

By winning in Indian Wells, Clijsters became the lowest ranked (No. 133) player ever to win a Tier I event. In the final she beat then world number one Davenport, 6-4 4-6 6-2. Hence, she is also the lowest ranked player to defeat a reigning world number one since 1975.

In Miami, she became only the second player (the first was Graf in 1994-1996) in history to win the Indian Wells-Miami double. En route to victory she beat the sixth (Anastasia Myskina), fifth (Dementieva), second (Mauresmo) and third (Sharapova) seeds one after the other. Becoming the first unseeded champion in the tournament, and never losing a set in her tournament run.

Clijsters' victory in the US Open allowed her to win the US Open Series. Hence, claiming a total prize money of 2.2 million USD—the largest paycheck in women's sports history. To that date, she held a North American hardcourt win-loss record of 36-1, the most matches won on that surface during a season ever.

She had a 22-match winning streak from August to October. In the process, winning tournaments in Los Angeles, Toronto, US Open and Luxembourg.

2006

In returning to the world number one spot in the rankings after the Australian Open in January, Clijsters broke a rankings record: as low as No. 134 in March 2005, her return to the top spot in a ten-month span was the fastest and biggest leap in women's tennis history.

Awards

Clijsters is considered by her peers as one of the most likeable players on tour. This, combined with her accomplishments on court, has earned her numerous citations:

2000

WTA Newcomer of the Year (for 1999).

2001

Karen Krantzcke Sportmanship Award (for 2000).

2002

Karen Krantzcke Sportmanship Award (for 2001).

2003

Karen Krantzcke Sportmanship Award (for 2002).

2004

WTA Player Service Award (for 2003).
Karen Krantzcke Sportmanship Award (for 2003).

2005

ITF World Champion.
WTA Tour Championships Race winner.
Belgian Sportswoman of the Year.
International Tennis Writers Association (ITWA) Player of the Year.
International Tennis Writers Ambassador for Tennis.

2006

WTA Player of the Year (for 2005).
WTA Comeback Player of the Year (for 2005).
Karen Krantzcke Sportmanship Award (for 2005).

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (1)

Mary Pierce|| 6-3, 6-1

'''Year

'''Championship

'''Opponent in Final

'''Score in Final

Runner-ups (4)

Jennifer Capriati|| 6-1, 4-6, 10-12 Justine Henin-Hardenne || 0-6, 4-6 Justine Henin-Hardenne || 5-7, 1-6 Justine Henin-Hardenne|| 3-6, 6-4, 3-6

'''Year

'''Championship

'''Opponent in Final

'''Score in Final

Titles (42)

Singles (31)

Legend
Grand Slam (1)
WTA Championships (2)
Tier I Event (5)
WTA Tour (23)

Titles by Surface
Hard (20)
Clay (3)
Grass (2)
Carpet (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	20 September 1999	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Carpet	Dominique Monami (Belgium)	6-2 6-2
2.	10 January 2000	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Chanda Rubin (USA)	2-6 6-2 6-2
3.	30 October 2000	Leipzig, Germany	Carpet	Elena Likhovtseva (Russia)	7-6⁶ 4-6 6-4
4.	23 July 2001	Stanford, California, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	6-4 6-7⁵ 6-1
5.	24 September 2001	Leipzig, Germany	Carpet	Magdalena Maleeva (Bulgaria)	6-1 6-1
6.	22 October 2001	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	Hard	Lisa Raymond (USA)	6-2 6-2
7.	29 April 2002	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Venus Williams (USA)	1-6 6-3 6-4
8.	7 October 2002	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard	Daniela Hantuchová (Slovakia)	4-6 6-3 6-4
9.	21 October 2002	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard	Magdalena Maleeva (Bulgaria)	6-1 6-2
10.	4 November 2002	WTA Championships, Los Angeles, USA	Carpet	Serena Williams (USA)	7-5 6-3
11.	6 January 2003	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	6-4 6-3
12.	3 March 2003	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	6-4 7-5
13.	12 May 2003	Rome, Italy	Clay	Amélie Mauresmo (France)	3-6 7-6³ 6-0
14.	16 June 2003	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium)	6-7⁴ 3-0 Ret
15.	21 July 2003	Stanford, USA	Hard	Jennifer Capriati (USA)	4-6 6-4 6-2
16.	4 August 2003	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	6-1 3-6 6-1
17.	6 October 2003	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard	Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium)	5-7 6-4 6-2
18.	20 October 2003	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard	Chanda Rubin (USA)	6-2 7-5
19.	3 November 2003	WTA Championships, Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Amélie Mauresmo (France)	6-2 6-0
20.	9 February 2004	Paris, France	Carpet	Mary Pierce (France)	6-2 6-1
21.	16 February 2004	Antwerp, Belgium	Carpet	Silvia Farina Elia (Italy)	6-3 6-0
22.	7 March 2005	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	6-4 4-6 6-2
23.	23 March 2005	Miami, USA	Hard	Maria Sharapova (Russia)	6-3 7-5
24.	13 June 2005	Eastbourne, England	Grass	Vera Douchevina (Russia)	7-5 6-0
25.	1 August 2005	Stanford , USA	Hard	Venus Williams (USA)	7-5 6-2
26.	8 August 2005	Los Angeles , USA	Hard	Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia)	6-4 6-1
27.	15 August 2005	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium)	7-5 6-1
28.	10 September 2005	U.S. Open, New York, USA	Hard	Mary Pierce (France)	6-3 6-1
29.	2 October 2005	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard	Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany)	6-2 6-4
30.	30 October 2005	Hasselt, Belgium	Hard	Francesca Schiavone (Italy)	6-2 6-3
31.	7 May 2006	Warsaw, Poland	Clay	Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)	7-5 6-2

Singles Finalist (15)

1999: Bratislava (lost to Amélie Mauresmo)
2000: Filderstadt (lost to Martina Hingis)
2001: Indian Wells (lost to Serena Williams)
2001: French Open (lost to Jennifer Capriati)
2001: 's-Hertogenbosch (lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne)
2002: Stanford (lost to Venus Williams)
2002: Tokyo (lost to Serena Williams)
2003: Antwerp (lost to Venus Williams)

2003: Scottsdale (lost to Ai Sugiyama)
2003: Berlin (lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne)
2003: French Open (lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne)
2003: San Diego (lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne)
2003: U.S. Open (lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne)
2004: Australian Open (lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne)
2006: Antwerp (lost to Amélie Mauresmo)

Performance Timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table are only updated once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded.

Tournament	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	Career
Australian Open	SF	-	F	SF	SF	4r	1r	-	0
French Open	SF	4r	-	F	3r	F	1r	-	0
Wimbledon	SF	4r	-	SF	2r	QF	2r	4r	0
U.S. Open		W	-	F	4r	QF	2r	3r	1
Grand Slam Win-Loss	14-3	13-2	6-1	22-4	11-4	17-4	2-4	5-2	90-24
WTA Tour Championships		RR	-	W	W	SF	QF	-	2
Tokyo	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
Indian Wells	-	W	3r	W	2r	F	4r	-	2
Miami	2r	W	-	SF	QF	4r	4r	-	1
Charleston	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
Berlin	-	3r	3r	F	2r	1r	-	-	0
Rome	3r	-	-	W	SF	2r	-	-	1
San Diego		QF	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
Montreal/Toronto		W	-	3r	3r	-	-	-	1
Moscow		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
Zurich		-	-	SF	QF	-	-	-	0
Tournaments played	9	17	6	21	21	22	17	8	121
Finals reached	2	9	3	15	6	6	3	2	46
Tournaments Won	1	9	2	9	4	3	2	1	31
Hardcourt Win-Loss	6-2	47-4	9-2	57-7	31-10	32-11	16-8	6-2	204-46
Clay Win-Loss	10-2	8-3	1-0	15-2	9-3	11-5	1-2	4-3	59-21
Grass Win-Loss	6-2	8-1	-	9-1	2-2	7-2	2-2	6-1	40-11
Carpet Win-Loss	3-1	2-1	8-0	5-1	8-2	4-0	9-3	8-2	47-10
Overall Win-Loss	25-7	65-9	18-2	86-12	50-17	54-18	28-15	24-8	350-88¹
Year End Ranking		2	22	2	4	5	18	47	N/A

Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-8 (quarter finals up to finalist).
¹ If ITF women's circuit (Hardcourt: 10-1; Clay: 23-4) and Fed Cup (15-3) participations are included, overall win-loss record stands at 398-96.

Doubles (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	27 October 1999	Bratislava, Slovakia	Laurence Courtois (Belgium)	Olga Barabanschikova (Belarus) and Lilia Osterloh (USA)	6-2 3-6 7-5
2.	21 May 2000	Antwerp, Belgium	Sabine Appelmans (Belgium)	Jennifer Hopkins (USA) and Petra Rampre (Slovenia)	6-1 6-1
3.	12 August 2002	Los Angeles, USA	Jelena Dokic (Serbia)	Daniela Hantuchová (Slovakia) and Ai Sugiyama (Japan)	6-3 6-3
4.	27 October 2002	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Janette Husárová (Slovakia)	Květa Peschke (Czech Republic) and Barbara Rittner (Germany)	4-6 6-3 7-5
5.	12 January 2003	Sydney, Australia	Ai Sugiyama (Japan)	Conchita Martinez (Spain) and Rennae Stubbs (Australia)	6-3 6-3
6.	February 16 2003	Antwerp, Belgium	Ai Sugiyama (Japan)	Nathalie Dechy and Emilie Loit (France)	6-2 6-0
7.	2 March 2003	Scottdale, USA	Ai Sugiyama (Japan)	Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond (USA)	6-1 6-4
8.	8 June 2003	French Open, Paris, France	Ai Sugiyama (Japan)	Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) and Paola Suarez (Argentina)	6-7 6-2 9-7
9.	6 July 2003	Wimbledon, London, Britain	Ai Sugiyama (Japan)	Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) and Paola Suarez (Argentina)	6-4 6-4
10.	3 August 2003	San Diego, USA	Ai Sugiyama (Japan)	Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond (USA)	6-4 7-5
11.	19 October 2003	Zurich, Switzerland	Ai Sugiyama (Japan)	Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) and Paola Suarez (Argentina)	7-6 6-2

Famous matches

2001 French Open final: lost to Jennifer Capriati, 6-1 4-6 10-12. Capriati won the tournament, keeping her bid of a calendar Grand Slam alive (she won the Australian Open months earlier), but was made to work hard for it by Clijsters. The two-hour, 21-minute match featured the longest third set in a Roland Garros women's final. Clijsters was four times within two points of winning, before Capriati prevailed, 12-10 in the final set.
2002 Tour Championships final: defeated Serena Williams, 7-5 6-3. In claiming her biggest title then, she defeated Williams for the first time in her career, handing Williams only her fifth defeat of the year and snapping her 18-match winning streak. Clijsters chased down every ball Williams hit, as the latter's unforced errors piled up and the match swung to Clijster's favor. In her run to the finals, she also defeated Venus Williams (retired), hence, becoming just the fourth player to beat the Williams sisters in the same event. She also equaled the event's record for the fewest games dropped.
2003 Australian Open semi-final: lost to Serena Williams, 6-4 3-6 5-7. After defeating Williams in the Tour Championships the previous year, critics believed Clijsters was the only one who could challenged Williams from gaining her Serena Slam. Leading at 5-1 in the third set (and holding a match point at 5-2), Williams, despite a foot injury, managed to fight back to take the set 7-5. She went on to defeat her older sister Venus and claim her Serena Slam.
2003 Rome final: defeated Amelie Mauresmo, 3-6 7-6(3) 6-0. After defeating Capriati and Serena Williams on her way to the final, Mauresmo continued on her momentum and at 6-5 in the second set, was serving for the championship. Clijsters, two points away from defeat, stormed back to win the set at tiebreak, before cruising through the last set, as her opponent struggled to regain her momentum. ^*
2003 Los Angeles final: defeated Lindsay Davenport, 6-1 3-6 6-1. By defeating Davenport for the fourth consecutive time and by winning her sixth title of the year, Clijsters gained enough points to overtake Serena Williams and claim the number one spot in women's tennis, becoming the 12th player to do so, and the first one to claim the spot without winning a Grand Slam.
2003 Filderstadt final: defeated Justine Henin-Hardenne, 5-7 6-4 6-2. With the number one ranking at steak, Clijsters rallied from a set down to beat her compatriot to retain. The match marked only the eighth time that the top two players battled for the number one ranking. ^* This was also Clijster's second victory (and first to have concluded, her previous win came when her opponent retired in 's Hertogenbosch) against Henin-Hardenne in their last seven meetings.
2003 Tour Championships semi-final: defeated Jennifer Capriati, 4-6 6-3 6-0. While leading 6-4 3-2, Capriati took an injury break, but after play resumed, she never regained her form. Clijsters won the next 10 games to claim victory and go through her second Tour Championships final. ^* In the final, she defeated Mauresmo, 6-2 6-0, the most one-sided final in the tournament since Martina Navratilova won over Chris Evert by the same score in 1983.
2005 Indian Wells final: defeated Lindsay Davenport, 6-4 4-6 6-2. Unseeded, ranked 133 in the world, and in only her second tournament of the year after being sidelined by a wrist injury, Clijsters reeled seven straight games after Davenport opened up the match with a 4-0 lead. The victory was bittersweet for Clijsters, who began having problems with her wrist in the same tournament a year before. ^*
2005 Miami final: defeated Maria Sharapova, 6-3 7-5. Both players struggled to keep the ball in play as the windy conditions prevailed throughout the match. Her victory here meant that she is only the second woman to earn the Indian Wells-Miami double, after Graf. These consecutive victories (Clijsters won 14 consecutive matches) catapulted Clijsters from 133 in the world to within the Top 20. As Sharapova noted, "I think the biggest surprise was that it was her 14th match and yet I didn’t feel like she was physically fatigued at all. She is a very strong girl and she can play all day. Running from corner to corner is like a piece of cake for her." ^*
2005 US Open quarter-final: defeated Venus Williams, 4-6 7-5 6-1. Despite being touted as the favorite and winning the 2005 US Open Series, Clijsters came into her quarter-final as an underdog, winning only three out of the nine matches she contested against Williams (although she won the last one). Williams managed to find her way on top, leading 6-4 4-2. Rallying back, Clijsters won 11 of the next 13 games, calling her win the best since she returned to competition. ^* With this victory, critics reconsidered and became convinced that this would be Clijsters' Grand Slam breakthrough.
2005 US Open semi-final: defeated Maria Sharapova, 6-2 6-7(4) 6-3. Clijsters' footwork and defensive abilities contrasted well against Sharapova's power game. Although Sharapova summoned a gutsy comeback in the second set after she saved three match points while serving to stay in the match at 5-6 0-40 after Clijsters won the first set, Clijsters displayed a newfound mental toughness as she closed on the match on her sixth match point in the third set. ^* She would go on to win the Gland Slam title, defeating Mary Pierce, 6-3 6-1 in the final.

External links

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