Defending Champion Clijsters Falls to Craybas on Day 4
March 25, 2006
Defending Champion Clijsters Falls to Craybas on Day 4
MIAMI, FL, USA - Just a day after fellow Top 3 player and Belgian compatriot
Justine Henin-Hardenne was bundled out of the tournament in her opening match,
defending Miami champion Kim Clijsters suffered the same fate, as second round
action came to a close at the $3,450,000 NASDAQ-100 Open.
Clijsters, currently the world's No.2 player but ranked No.1 a week ago,
surrendered her title in a shock 75 36 75 loss to 54th-ranked American Jill
Craybas. The Belgian clearly struggled with her consistency, spraying 78
unforced errors throughout the match, 11 of which were double faults. She also
allowed Craybas to claw her way back into the match on two critical occasions,
dropping the last four games of the opening set after building a 5-3 lead and
ultimately losing five of the last six games of the match after building a 4-2
third-set lead. In the end, the unseeded American was just too steady, notching
her career-best victory in two hours, 15 minutes.
"In the beginning of the match I felt like I was trying to go for too much
because I felt the pressure of her stepping up and expecting her to hit winners,"
said Craybas, 31. "But I think once that I got over that, I just tried to stay
in the moment and rally and just keep rallying. Then once I did that, I got
into a groove. And the same thing happened in the third, too. When she got up,
I was just like, 'Okay, get that groove back.' I found it again.
"I actually had a lot of fun out there. I think that that's due to a lot of
the fact that I was successful today."
"I wasn't consistent out there," said Clijsters, who won the NASDAQ-100 Open
for the second of a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour-leading nine singles titles in 2005.
"I had a lot of trouble finishing off the points. She's a great mover. I knew
that from before the match. When you're not playing your best tennis, it's
very tough to get through there... You know, it didn't work today.
"I've always enjoyed playing here so obviously I would have liked to have
stayed a little bit longer, into the tournament."
For Craybas, the victory is a second career Top 10 victory, after ousting
then-No.4 Serena Williams en route to a fourth round finish at Wimbledon last
year. Nearly 10 years after originally turning pro, the Rhode Island native
has been compiling some of her best career results over the last year, which
contributed to her Top 50 debut last October. Already in 2006 she has reached
her second career Tour singles semifinal, at the Tier III event in Memphis.
She won the Tokyo [Japan Open] title in 2002.
"The more you play the top players, the more you get used to just being out
there, getting used to the atmosphere," Craybas added. "I think the atmosphere
and the mental attitude toward the match has a lot to do with it and I think
that's what's improved with me, confidence-wise."
Last year's runner-up, Maria Sharapova, was more fortunate in the feature night
match, ousting China's Li Na 62 64 in one hour, 18 minutes. The No.4-seeded
Russian improved to 2-0 lifetime against her opponent, having also defeated her
in straight sets at the Australian Open in Melbourne last season. For Sharapova,
the departure of Henin-Hardenne on Friday and Clijsters on Saturday does not
affect how she views her own chances.
"You try not to think about it when you go on the court," said the Russian
teenager, who is coming off a victory at the Tier I event in Indian Wells.
"It's disappointing for the tournament, but it's hard to look at that when you
have your own draw to look at. This is tennis, the good thing is you always
have next week."
Only six of the other 12 seeds in action were victorious, namely recent Indian
Wells finalist Elena Dementieva (No.6), former world No.2 Anastasia Myskina
(No.10), recent Acapulco winner Anna-Lena Groenefeld (No.16), rising stars
Maria Kirilenko (No.20) and Tatiana Golovin (No.22), and two-time Tour singles
titlist Klara Koukalova (No.27).
Joining Clijsters on the sidelines were Francesca Schiavone (No.9), who fell
62 63 to Elena Vesnina; Nathalie Dechy (No.19), who blew a 3-0 second-set lead
during a 26 76(3) 61 loss to Zheng Jie; Jelena Jankovic (No.25), ousted 63 61
by Belarussian teen Victoria Azarenka; Lucie Safarova (No.29), who fell 63 64
to Dutch phenom Michaella Krajicek; Shahar Peer (No.31), who fell 61 62 to
Russia's Anna Chakvetadze; and Czech veteran Kveta Peschke (No.33), a 62 75
upset victim to Italy's Maria Elena Camerin.
Also advancing to the round of 32 were talented Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano
and Ukrainian lucky loser Viktoriya Kutuzova.
The 32 remaining players will become 16 after the third round is contested on
Sunday. Featured on Stadium court will be Sharapova against Camerin, two-time
former Miami champion Martina Hingis against Svetlana Kuznetsova, and
Dementieva against Krajicek. Also in action will be top seed and current
world No.1 Amelie Mauresmo, who will face No.30-seeded compatriot Marion B
artoli.
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