20/05/02
Den Bosch, Netherlands (Sports Network) - Slovenian Tina Pisnik ousted top-seeded Kim Clijsters in Thursday's quarterfinal action at the grass-court Ordina Open -- a final Wimbledon tune-up.
Pisnik dismissed Clijsters in straight sets, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, at Autotron Rosmalen.
Clijsters was last year's Den Bosch runner-up to fellow Belgian Justine Henin, a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 victor against Russian Elena Bovina on Day 4.
19/05/02
Den Bosch, Netherlands (Sports Network) - Top-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters moved into the quarterfinals at the $170,000 Ordina Open -- a final grass- court Wimbledon tune-up.
The 2001 runner-up Clijsters easily handled German Andrea Glass, 6-3, 6-2, in her first match of the week at Autotron Rosmalen.
Clijsters lost to countrywoman Justine Henin in last year's final here. Henin, this week's second seed, will meet Czech Kveta Hrdlickova on Wednesday.
31/03/02
In a stunning upset that dashed Belgium's hopes of producing a Roland Garros women's champion, Argentina's Clarisa Fernandez upset 2001 finalist Kim Clijsters 6-4 6-0 in the third round on Friday.
"It was a great surprise for me because I really expected a lot out of myself," Fernandez said. "I told myself to earn each point. I'm very happy. She's a great player but I believed in my own possibilities."
After winning Hamburg earlier this month over Venus Williams, the No4 seeded Clijsters was seriously expected to contend for the title, as was her countrywoman, No5 seed Justine Henin. But an ill Henin fell in the first round and on Friday, Clijsters played an error-strewn, nervous contest against the 20-year-old lefty Argentine, looking like she wanted to be in another place all together. She had also struggled in the first two rounds here, beating Belarus Poutchek 8/6 in the third set and then Grecian Daniilidou in two tiebreaks.
Today the 18-year-old Clijsters never got a feel for the ball during the match, careening a remarkable 59 unforced errors to only 22 from her opponent.
"I felt tired," Clijsters said. "My whole body was a little heavier. I just didn't play well. I tried to go for too many shots. I felt in the beginning I was controlling the points but then I couldn't finish them off in the end. I got confused with some of her short second serves. Maybe I was a little too careful. But she played a very good match."
For her part, Fernandez played a gutsy, ambitious match, keeping Clijsters deep in the court and standing in with her in brutal baseline rallies.
"I knew she was really aggressive and that she has a lot of strength so the main thing was to make her run, defend every point and to play deep," said Fernandez, who will play No13 Elena Dementieva of Russia in the fourth round, a 6-3 6-0 winner over Rossanna Neffa-De Los Rios.
The 87-ranked Fernandez - who is making her debut at this tournament - won four ITF Circuit titles last year and upset Silvia Farina-Elia earlier this year in Charleston. She is into the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career. In contrast, this is Clijsters worst result in a major since the 2000 US Open.
Clijsters, who's mother Els has had a serious bout with cancer, was disappointed in the loss, but wasn't crestfallen. She said that the upper arm injury she sustained earlier this year didn't bother her.
"I've gone through enough things to realize that there are worse things in life than losing a tennis match," said Clijsters, who added that despite the fact that she reached the final here last year, she considers clay to be her most difficult surface. "I need more time to finish off the points, I have to work harder on clay."
29/05/02
Last year's runner-up Kim Clijsters stayed on course for another final appearance at Roland Garros on Wednesday, after overcoming the stubborn resistance of Eleni Daniilidou in straight sets.
The tall Belgian had to dig deep for her second round victory, two nervous tie-breaks booking her place in the third round.
It was the accurate serving of her Greek opponent that frustrated her the most, Daniilidou managing to fire in 79 per cent of her first serves.
With both players rarely giving an inch on their own serve in the first set, the number four seed edged the first set seven points to five in the tie-break.
She failed to press home the advantage though and Daniilidou kept pace with her in the second set, lifted by the vociferous crowd on Court One.
Clijsters though held her nerve in the second set tie-break to take the match by nine points to seven.
28/05/02
Clijsters rallies from behind to clinch victory
Nyree Epplett
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
2001 French Open finalist Kim Clijsters rallied from behind in heavy conditions to post a popular three set victory 3-6 6-3 8-6 over little-known Belarusian Tatiana Poutchek on Tuesday.
Clijsters, the No4 seed, initially struggled to find her form on a sluggish Court Suzanne Lenglen that had been dampened by rain just prior to the start of the match.
"You don't know what to do," said Clijsters of the disruptive inclement weather that had also forced the cancellation of this match late yesterday. "It's hard when you're waiting in the locker room. Like I was 2-1 up in the third set, but I still felt like I was playing bad tennis. So I was thinking, 'You can only get better. You're playing your worst tennis, you can only play better.' I was still leading."
The 18-year-old Belgian, who last year pushed Jennifer Capriati to 12-10 in the final here, dug deep to clinch the win in just over two hours, after conceding the first set in 30 minutes, care of a hefty 31 unforced errors.
In the second set the pair traded service breaks to draw even at 2-2, before Clijsters surged ahead by driving the No67-ranked Poutchek into the back of the court with a spate of penetrating groundstroke winners.
Visibly tired from her first set ambush, and with the pressure mounting from a hungry Clijsters, the 23-year-old Belarusian's defense weakened. Her groundstrokes thinned out to mere counter punches that regularly fell short of the service line and she failed to hit any winners.
Sniffing Poutchek's exhaustion, Clijsters cleverly mixed up her aggressive backcourt play with a handful of tricky drop shots that stunned her opponent into submission. The fourth seed ran a puffed Poutchek ragged to steal the second set in 34 minutes. Later Clijsters admitted she wasn't sure where she would have been without the drop shots today. "I don't know. I was probably still playing, I think," she laughed. "I felt that those (drop shots) helped me a lot...She slipped a few times running to them. She fell. So I felt like I had her there a few times. I felt I hit them at the right time."
Cheered on from the stands by her boyfriend and world No1 Lleyton Hewitt, Clijsters stepped up the pressure in the beginning of the third set, breaking to lead 2-1 before rain stopped play for over an hour. At the re-commencement, the Belgian dropped serve to trail 2-3, before Poutchek - who is coached by fellow pro Natasha Zvereva's father - let her concentration temporarily slip after questioning a line call.
Clijsters evened at 3-3 and gained the support of the crowd, who began to boo and whistle the frustrated Belarusian for her continued line queries. The revitalized Poutchek nevertheless gained her second wind, drawing more mistakes from the error-prone Clijsters (who tallied 102 unforced errors in total).
"She was hardly making any mistakes," said Clijsters. "Me, I was struggling with almost everything today. On the other hand, I wasn't playing good, but I was still close. If I could just raise my game a little bit, then try to keep fighting, try to go for every point, I was hoping I could pull my end.
Poutchek served for the match at 6/5 in the decider but lost her nerve when it counted, winning only one point in that game. The gutsy Clijsters regrouped and reeled off the next three games for the match. "That's what helped in the end. I just kept fighting," said the Belgian. "It was more a battle of fighting than playing good tennis."
She will now meet Greece's Eleni Daniilidou, in the second round.
24/02/02
Kim has to play in the 1st Round of RG against Tatiana Poutchek from the Belarus. Tatiana reached last year the 2nd Round at Roland Garros. Kim is ranked 4th in the world, Tatiana 70th.
Possible Quarterfinal:
Kim Clijsters - Amélie Mauresmo
Possible Semifinal:
against Monica Seles or Venus Williams...
