US Open 2012 daily report: Clijsters bids farewell
The major stories from the third day of the 2012 US Open at Flushing Meadows, New York...
Ahead of this year’s US Open, Laura Robson said that the most important thing she had learned over the past year was dealing with the pressure of big matches. She had had a series of matches that could have gone her way, but didn’t. Today’s performance against Kim Clijsters, the 18-year-old winning 7-6(4), 7-6(5) to end the three-time champion’s singles career, was the perfect case in point.
Robson played with a poise beyond her years, particularly from the back of the court, recovering from a 2-5 deficit in the first set to sneak it on a tie-break, with an ace to boot. Clawing back a break in the second set too, she had two match points at 6-5 before Clijsters clutched it out herself to force another tie-break. Exchanging mini-breaks like hot potatoes, it was Robson who held her nerve, coping with the Clijsters’ pace and depth, and taking her third match point opportunity.
Propelling herself into her first Grand Slam singles third round, and a meeting with another former Slam champ, Li Na, Robson smiled and shrugged in almost disbelief, paying tribute to Clijsters, whom she had grown up watching, as she did so..
As a fellow pundit commented, her new coach, Zeljko Krajan, is unlikely to have worked technical miracles in just a month, but that’s plenty of time to boost a players’ confidence in themselves.
“I went into the match with low expectations because she had all the pressure on her,” Robson said. “ I was just able to play as freely as I wanted to, go for all my shots. I’ve tried to work on everything. I’ve done quite a bit more tactical stuff recently, which I feel has made more of a difference, but I’ve also worked very hard on my speed around the court. I feel confident enough in my movement to run down a lot more balls.”
“I think every match I play against a tough opponent, like Sharapova, I get more experience from it and I learn a lot, and that’s what I tried to bring on court today. I think previously I just sort of slipped up a little bit in the key moments, today I managed to stick with it.”
As for Clijsters, she leaves the sport with four Grand Slam singles titles, having held the No.1 ranking, and an enduring legacy as an extraordinary competitor with a big, down-to-earth heart too.
“I’ve always loved watching her play because she’s such a dynamic player,” Robson said. “Her movement is something that I wish I could have. She’s always been someone that I’ve looked up to since I started on the tour. She’s always been incredibly nice to be around. I think we’re all going to miss her.”
“It does something to you when you hear other players talk about me like that,” Clijsters said. “In these two rounds that I’ve played here, I’ve played players that I spoke to and they said that I inspired them. That’s a great feeling, because I was once in that situation as well.
“You think about those kind of things now, about then I first stepped on the tour, and met Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. First in Belgium when I was able to practice in a tennis centre against Sabine Appelmans and Dominique Monami.
“It’s been an incredible journey and a lot of dreams for me have come true because of tennis. So for me to have been able to have been a part of women’s tennis, and on top of women’s tennis for so many years. It’s been a crazy rollercoaster.”
-
While Andy Murray finished things off without trouble on Arthur Ashe, seeing off Ivan Dodig 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 to become the first man into the third round, Jonny Marray and Freddie Nielsen continued as they had at Wimbledon, the SW19 champions winning their opening match against Fabio Fognini and Flavio Cipolla in straight sets.
Colin Fleming, played mixed doubles with Sania Mirza, also earned a win, 6-2, 7-6(5) over Andrea Petkovic and Eric Butorac, while Dominic Inglot and Treat Huey caused an upset against James Blake and Sam Querrey, winning 6-1, 7-6(7).
Jamie Murray alas was not so fortunate, he and Andre Sa felled by the 15th seeds, Alex Peya and Bruno Soares, 2-6, 2-6.
-
Brushing dirt off her shoulder, or her opponent, was Zheng Jie, who saw off Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 6-1. Victoria Azarenka also dropped just four games against Kirsten Flipkens, while David Ferrer sneaked past Kevin Anderson in three. Petra Kvitova continued her run of form on American hard courts, brushing past Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-3. Li Na also won in two against Casey Dellacqua, Sam Stosur did the same against Edina Gallovits-Hall (and did the running man to celebrate), and the Bryan brothers breezed too.
-
Could Mallory Burdette be this year’s Melanie Oudin? The US College player, who is at Stanford, is ranked No.252 in the world, and yet is into the US Open third round after upsetting Lucie Hradecka in straight sets. And, being an amateur, she won’t even take home the $65K cheque.
Fellow college player Steve Johnson, of USC, followed suit, making it into the second round, and a meet with Ernests Gulbis.
-
Continuing along the American theme, Brian Baker carried on his fairytale story of 2012, winning his first US Open match since 2005 with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Jan Hajek. Baker, who reached the third round at Wimbledon after coming through qualifying, beat Gaston Gaudio seven years ago.
Varvara Lepchenko too, seeded in New York for the first time, produced a comprehensive 6-2, 6-2 win over the sometimes turbulent Anastasia Rodionova, while John Isner was forced to find some clutch control to take down Xavier Malisse 6-3, 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(9). It was a very tempestuous match in the mid-afternoon heat, Malisse venting at umpire Carlos Ramos, at the fans, and even at a ball, which he took a hefty bite out of. Figuratively speaking. Isner meanwhile extends his post-Wimbledon record to 19-3, including two titles in Newport and Winston-Salem. But he is also at 50 tie-breaks for the season, which is a fair amount for a big server like him.
Ryan Harrison, meanwhile, American tennis’s golden boy in waiting, recovered from an early deficit to beat Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-4, 6-2, the German who took out Andre Agassi in his final US Open match.
There was however brief alarm when Serena Williams appear to go over slightly on her ankle alongside sister Venus during their 6-4, 6-0 doubles win over Lee-Waters and Moulton-Levy, but she seemed to be ok.
-
Stat from last night. Alex Dolgopolov was down two sets to love, 0-4, with opponent Jesse Levine having a point for 5-0. Dolgopolov came back to win in five.
Today’s barnstormers came between Janko Tipsarevic and Guillame Rufin, the Serb letting the young French wildcard get ahead by two sets before settling down to win 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. Gilles Muller also came back from two sets to love down, digging in to beat Mikhail Youzhny 2-6, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(8), 7-6(8). Muller had served for the match in the fifth only for Youzhny to break. The Russian did the same before the Luxemburger eventually closed it out by the narrowest of margins.
Later on, Ernests Gulbis became the ninth player to come from two sets to love behind, beating Tommy Haas 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3, in his usually confuddling fashion.
-
Two seeds were sent packing from the women’s draw – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, by Kristina Mladenovic, and Yanina Wickmayer by Pauline Parmentier. Head-scratching. Viktor Troicki also exited the men’s singles, felled by Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, as did Andreas Seppi courtesy of Tommy Robredo.
-
Fascinating fact. Juan Martin Del Potro is apparently down to just four racket frames. He uses the Wilson KFactor Pro Staff, a relatively old frame, which is why you won’t see the Tower of Tandil chucking his rackets any more. He is apparently trying to change frames next year, but seems unable to let go of the one that won him the US Open in 2009.
They put him into the second round here, a straight sets win over Florent Serra in his gift.
-
Lleyton Hewitt’s suspected year of glorious farewells continues. The Australian came from behind to beat Tobias Kamke 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 and show that his broken body has still got it on American hard courts.
-
US Open fashion-watch. Brightest doubles combination of the day were Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova, both in shades of shocking pink, different shades, who breezed through their opening round for the loss of just one game.
-
Overheard around the grounds
Q: ‘Where’s Arthur Ashe?’
A: ‘Try the giant thing right in front of you.’
-
Coming up tomorrow
Arthur Ashe
Ana Ivanovic v Sofia Arvidsson, Mardy Fish v Nikolay Davydenko, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez v Serena Williams in the day, Roger Federer v Bjorn Phau and Angelique Kerber v Venus Williams.
Louis Armstrong
Maria Kirilenko, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Sloane Stephens, James Blake
Grandstand
Nicolas Almagro, Agnieszka Radwanska, Sam Querrey, Sara Errani
Court 17
Jelena Jankovic, Jack Sock, Milos Raonic.
Other notables
Marin Cilic on Court 13, Jimmy Wang on Court 13, Tomas Berdych on Court 11, Kim Clijsters in doubles on Court 4, Johanna Konta on Court 7, Heather Watson in doubles on Court 7, Jamie Delgado and Ken Skupski in doubles on Court 12, Laura Robson in doubles on Court 12, Anne Keothavong in doubles on Court 14, and Jonny Marray in mixed doubles on Court 15.
For full scores, draws and results, and videos from Flushing Meadows, check out the US Open official website.
